Process for treating construction and demolition waste material with kinetic pulverization

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the treatment of streams derived from construction and / or demolition (C&D) debris, such as C&D fines streams, asphalt shingles, drywall, or wood. The process can include a kinetic pulverization stage through a kinetic pulverizer where the frangible materials are size-reduced and the ductile materials are liberated and remain as an oversized fraction. The feedstock can include infrangible materials that also remains as an oversized fraction. The pulverized material is then subjected to a separation stage, which may include mechanical and / or magnetic screening, to separate the oversized material comprising the ductile material, and optionally larger particles of the infrangible material, from the size-reduced material comprising the frangible material, and optionally small particles of infrangible material.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This technical field generally relates to the treatment of construction and demolition waste for size reduction and related processing. [Previous Technology]

[0002] Waste generated from building and / or demolition projects can be disposed of and treated in certain facilities, but there are various challenges in dealing with such materials.

[0003] Conventional treatment of mixed construction and / or demolition (C&D) debris involves manual pre-sorting of materials to remove larger or visible valuable components (e.g., large pieces of timber, large pieces of scrap metal, etc.). Smaller particles sieved from oversized materials or generated during the sorting process produce a coarse, fine-grained product, sometimes referred to as "C&D fine particles" or "recycled screen material" (RSM). A common reuse strategy for RSM is as a soil alternative, such as alternative daily landfill cover (ADC). However, one challenge in using RSM in soil alternatives is the heterogeneity of the material, where larger particles (maximum size depends on the specific screen diameter but is typically in the range of -1.5 inches to 3 inches) can affect structural properties and are considered unattractive for applications where the material may be visible. In addition, some RSM products typically contain a certain amount of sulfate from gypsum drywall, which can be converted into hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in an anaerobic environment. H2S is a gas commonly associated with the smell of rotten eggs and is undesirable for emission. Therefore, due to the associated hazards and odors of H2S production, RSM products are increasingly being banned from use as ADCs.

[0004] Another conventional treatment of C&D debris involves source separation of valuable building materials, such as asphalt shingles or drywall, and processing these valuable materials using a grinder or crusher. The grinder or crusher reduces the size of the entire feed stream, including the asphalt or gypsum component and the paper or plastic underlayer film, thereby producing a mixed, size-reduced product. Furthermore, when a grinder or crusher is used to process asphalt shingles, heat is generated during the size-reduction process, which may require the addition of cold water to prevent the asphalt on the shingles from becoming sticky and / or scorched, thereby impairing the function of the grinder or reducing the quality of the final product.

[0005] Therefore, there are various challenges in the current treatment of C&D debris. [Summary of the Invention]

[0006] According to some embodiments, a method for processing construction and / or demolition (C&D) debris is provided, comprising: providing a C&D debris stream comprising a brittle material and a ductile material; subjecting the C&D debris stream to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the C&D debris stream is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle material and an oversized portion originating from the ductile material; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size debris stream and an oversized debris stream.

[0007] In some embodiments, the C&D fine stream contains material with a size of less than 2 inches or less than 4 inches.

[0008] In some embodiments, the kinetic energy crusher operates at a rotational speed between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM.

[0009] In some embodiments, the kinetic energy crusher is operated at a rotational speed between 700 RPM and 1,000 RPM.

[0010] In some embodiments, the kinetic energy crusher is operated such that the size reduction portion is substantially composed of particles of sand or silt size.

[0011] In some embodiments, the C&D fine material stream has a moisture content of less than 50% when it enters the kinetic energy crusher.

[0012] In some embodiments, the C&D fine material stream has a moisture content between 5% and 30% when it enters the kinetic energy crusher.

[0013] In some embodiments, the C&D fines flow directly to the kinetic crushing stage without a drying stage or a surface wetting stage.

[0014] In some embodiments, the C&D fines flow through a kinetic crushing stage at a construction site or demolition site where the building and / or demolition debris is generated.

[0015] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the C&D fines stream to a drying stage or a surface wetting pretreatment stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

[0016] In some embodiments, the size reduction portion is one of the homogeneous mixtures in the crushed output stream.

[0017] In some embodiments, the kinetic crushing stage dehydrates the C&D fines stream so that the dehydration rate in the kinetic crushing stage is between 5% and 8%.

[0018] In some embodiments, the method further includes incorporating a fragile additive into the C&D fine stream such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form a portion of the reduced size portion.

[0019] In some embodiments, the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

[0020] In some embodiments, the fragile additive is introduced into the C&D fine stream upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

[0021] In some embodiments, the fragile additive is introduced directly into the kinetic energy crusher as one of the streams separated from the C&D fine stream.

[0022] In some embodiments, the fragile additive is the RCA and the RCA accounts for at least 60% by weight of the mixture of the RCA and the size reduction portion.

[0023] In some embodiments, the mixture of the RCA and the size reduction portion is configured for use as a structural or non-structural cleaning filler application.

[0024] In some embodiments, the separation stage includes screening.

[0025] In some embodiments, the screening includes using a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

[0026] In some embodiments, the screening is performed using at least one of the following: a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen, and a high-frequency screen.

[0027] In some embodiments, the method further includes: monitoring at least one of the following parameters: the C&D fine feed stream, the pulverized material, the excessive feed stream and / or the size-reduced feed stream; and adjusting the kinetic energy pulverization stage based on the at least one parameter.

[0028] In some embodiments, the at least one parameter includes at least one of the following: a feed rate of the C&D fine stream, a moisture content of the C&D fine stream, a dimensional property of the C&D fine stream, and a composition of the C&D fine stream.

[0029] In some embodiments, the at least one parameter includes at least one of the following: the size property of the size-reduced portion of the pulverized material, a composition of the pulverized material, a flow rate of the excessive material flow, a flow rate of the size-reduced material flow, a composition of the excessive material flow, and a composition of the size-reduced material flow.

[0030] In some embodiments, the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the rotational speed.

[0031] In some embodiments, the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the feed rate of the C&D fines stream.

[0032] In some embodiments, the C&D material stream originates from a building and demolition material recycling facility (MRF).

[0033] In some embodiments, the C&D stream comprises at least one building material, wherein the fragile material is coupled to the ductile material.

[0034] In some embodiments, the at least one building material is at least one of the following: asphalt shingles and drywall.

[0035] In some embodiments, the stretchable material is at least one of the following: a plastic backing, a cellulose backing, a glass fiber backing, and a paper backing.

[0036] In some embodiments, the C&D fine stream further comprises a non-fragile material.

[0037] In some embodiments, the C&D stream contains between 40% and 60% glass, and the size reduction stream is composed of more than 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% glass.

[0038] In some embodiments, the C&D fine stream further includes a non-fragile component.

[0039] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the C&D fines stream to an upstream magnetic separation stage to remove metals therefrom and generating a lean metal feed stream fed into the kinetic crushing stage.

[0040] In some embodiments, the upstream magnetic separation stage is performed by one or more magnetic separators configured relative to one of the C&D fine streams.

[0041] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting at least one of the following to a downstream magnetic separation stage to remove metal from it: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

[0042] In some embodiments, the downstream magnetic separation stage is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators with respect to at least one of the following: the crushed output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

[0043] In some embodiments, the upstream magnetic separation stage or the downstream magnetic separation stage is performed by at least one of the following: a non-ferrous metal separator and a ferrous metal separator.

[0044] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the excessive material flow to a primary separation stage to produce an extensible material flow and a non-fragile material flow.

[0045] In some embodiments, the secondary separation stage includes screening.

[0046] In some embodiments, the secondary separation stage includes magnetic separation.

[0047] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the pulverized material to a dust collection stage to recover a portion of dust from it and generating a pulverized material stream with reduced dust that is fed to the separation stage to generate the size-reduced flow and the excessive flow.

[0048] In some embodiments, at least a portion of the dust portion is combined with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

[0049] In some embodiments, all of the dust portions are combined with the size-reduced material flow.

[0050] In some embodiments, the dust collection stage helps to separate at least a portion of the ductile material in the process.

[0051] In some embodiments, the dust collection stage helps to separate at least a portion of the fragile material in the reduced-size portion.

[0052] In some embodiments, the dust collection stage includes: a dust collector coupled to one of the outlets of the kinetic crushing stage or to a solid conveying device configured to convey the crushed material away from the kinetic crushing stage; and a dust recovery unit coupled to the dust collector and configured to separate the dust and partially convey the dust from the dust collector to a storage container.

[0053] In some embodiments, the dust collector includes a settling chamber.

[0054] In some embodiments, the dust recovery unit includes a bag filter chamber that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

[0055] In some embodiments, the dust recovery unit includes a cyclone separator that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

[0056] In some embodiments, the solid conveying device includes a conveyor.

[0057] In some embodiments, the dust collector surrounds the solid conveying device along most of its length.

[0058] According to another embodiment, a construction and demolition (C&D) debris handling system is provided, comprising: a kinetic energy crusher configured to receive and process a C&D debris stream to generate a crushed debris stream; a crusher conveyor configured to convey the crushed debris stream downstream; and at least one separator operatively coupled to the crusher conveyor and configured to receive the crushed debris stream and generate a reduced-size debris stream and an oversized debris stream.

[0059] In some embodiments, the separator includes a screen.

[0060] In some embodiments, the system further includes: a material recovery facility (MRF) that generates the C&D fine material stream; and a fine material conveyor configured to convey the C&D fine material stream to the kinetic energy crusher.

[0061] In some embodiments, the C&D material flow system originates from construction and demolition debris.

[0062] In some embodiments, the C&D fine stream contains material with a size of less than 2 inches or 4 inches.

[0063] In some embodiments, the kinetic energy crusher is configured to operate at a rotational speed between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM.

[0064] In some embodiments, the kinetic energy crusher is configured to operate at a rotational speed between 700 RPM and 1,000 RPM.

[0065] In some embodiments, the system further includes an addition unit for incorporating a fragile additive into the C&D fine stream such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form part of the reduced size portion.

[0066] In some embodiments, the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

[0067] In some embodiments, the addition unit for adding the fragile additive is located upstream of the kinetic energy crusher.

[0068] In some embodiments, the addition unit for adding the fragile additive is operatively coupled to the kinetic energy crusher.

[0069] In some embodiments, the separator includes at least one of a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen, and a high-frequency screen.

[0070] In some embodiments, the separator includes a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

[0071] In some embodiments, the system further includes: a monitoring unit configured to monitor at least one feed parameter of the C&D fine feed stream and / or at least one output parameter of the pulverized feed stream, the oversized feed stream and / or the size-reduced feed stream; and a control unit coupled to the monitoring unit and configured to adjust the kinetic energy pulverizer based on the at least one feed parameter and / or the at least one output parameter.

[0072] In some embodiments, the monitoring unit and the control unit are configured such that the at least one feed parameter includes one feed rate of the C&D fine stream and / or a component of the C&D fine stream.

[0073] In some embodiments, the monitoring unit and the control unit are configured such that the at least one output parameter includes the size properties of the pulverized material flow, a composition of the pulverized material flow, a flow rate of the pulverized material flow, a flow rate of the oversized material flow, a flow rate of the size-reduced material flow, a composition of the oversized material flow, and / or a composition of the size-reduced material flow.

[0074] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to adjust the rotational speed of the kinetic energy crusher.

[0075] In some embodiments, the control unit is configured to adjust the feed rate of the C&D fine material flow into one of the kinetic energy crushers.

[0076] In some embodiments, the system further includes an upstream magnetic separator to remove metal from the C&D fine stream and generate a lean metal feed stream fed into the kinetic energy crusher.

[0077] In some embodiments, the upstream magnetic separator operates relative to one of the feeds of the C&D fine stream.

[0078] In some embodiments, the method further includes a downstream magnetic separator to remove metal from at least one of: the crushed output stream, the oversized stream, and the reduced-size stream.

[0079] In some embodiments, the downstream magnetic separator operates relative to a feed of at least one of the following: the crushed output stream, the oversized stream, and the reduced-size stream.

[0080] In some embodiments, the at least one separator is the downstream magnetic separator.

[0081] In some embodiments, the system further includes a dust collection unit configured to recover a portion of dust from the pulverized material stream and generate a dust-reduced pulverized material stream fed to the screen.

[0082] In some embodiments, the dust collection unit is configured to supply at least a portion of the dust portion in combination with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

[0083] In some embodiments, the dust collection unit includes: a dust collector coupled to one of the outlets of the kinetic energy crusher or to the crusher conveyor; and a dust recovery unit coupled to the dust collector and configured to separate the dust and partially transport the dust from the dust collector to a storage container.

[0084] In some embodiments, the dust collector includes a settling chamber.

[0085] In some embodiments, the dust recovery unit includes a bag filter chamber that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

[0086] In some embodiments, the dust recovery unit includes a cyclone separator that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

[0087] In some embodiments, the dust collector surrounds the kinetic energy crusher along most of its length.

[0088] In some embodiments, the separator includes at least one of a non-ferrous magnetic separator, a ferrous magnetic separator, and an expandable dust collector.

[0089] In some embodiments, the extensible dust collector is configured to remove at least a portion of the extensible material from the pulverized material stream and / or the excessive material stream.

[0090] In some embodiments, at least one of the non-ferrous magnetic separator and the ferrous magnetic separator is configured to remove at least a portion of the brittle material from the crushed material stream, the size-reduced material stream and / or the oversized material stream.

[0091] According to another embodiment, a method for processing construction and / or demolition debris is provided, comprising: providing a raw material comprising a brittle material and a ductile material; subjecting the raw material to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the raw material is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle material and an excessive portion originating from the ductile material; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size flow and an excessive-size flow.

[0092] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting a C&D raw material to an upstream separation stage to produce at least one stream of the raw material.

[0093] In some embodiments, the upstream separation stage includes mechanical screening to presize the C&D raw material to produce at least one stream of the raw material.

[0094] In some embodiments, the upstream separation stage includes upstream magnetic separation to remove metal from the C&D raw material or the at least one stream of the raw material and generate a metal-poor feed stream fed into the kinetic crushing stage.

[0095] In some embodiments, the magnetic separation is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators relative to a feed of the C&D raw material or at least one flow of the raw material.

[0096] In some embodiments, the upstream magnetic separation system is performed by at least one of the following: a non-ferrous metal separator and a ferrous metal separator.

[0097] In some embodiments, the upstream separation stage includes the manual removal of reusable material from the C&D raw material.

[0098] In some embodiments, the upstream separation stage includes an upstream dust collection stage to remove at least a portion of the ductile material from the at least one stream of the raw material or the C&D raw material.

[0099] In some embodiments, the upstream dust collection stage is performed by configuring one or more dust collectors relative to at least one flow of the raw material or a feed of the C&D raw material.

[0100] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the raw material to a pretreatment stage before subjecting it to the kinetic energy crushing stage.

[0101] In some embodiments, the pretreatment stage is included in one of the drying stages upstream of the kinetic energy crushing stage.

[0102] In some embodiments, the pretreatment stage includes a surface wetting stage upstream of the kinetic energy crushing stage.

[0103] In some embodiments, the pretreatment stage includes one of the crushing or grinding stages upstream of the kinetic energy crushing stage.

[0104] In some embodiments, the crushing or grinding stage includes subjecting the raw material to a crusher or a high-speed grinder.

[0105] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting at least one of the following to a downstream magnetic separation to remove metal therefrom: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

[0106] In some embodiments, the downstream magnetic separation system is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators with respect to at least one of the following: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

[0107] In some embodiments, the downstream magnetic separation system is performed by at least one of the following: a downstream non-ferrous metal separator and a downstream ferrous metal separator.

[0108] In some embodiments, the raw material is fed directly to the kinetic crushing stage at one of the construction sites or demolition sites where the building and / or demolition debris is generated.

[0109] In some embodiments, the method further includes incorporating a fragile additive into the raw material such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form a portion of the reduced size portion.

[0110] In some embodiments, the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

[0111] In some embodiments, the fragile additive is introduced into the raw material upstream of the kinetic energy crushing stage.

[0112] In some embodiments, the fragile additive is introduced directly into the kinetic energy crusher as a separate material stream from the raw material.

[0113] In some embodiments, the separation stage includes screening.

[0114] In some embodiments, the screening includes using a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

[0115] In some embodiments, the screening is performed using at least one of the following: a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen, and a high-frequency screen.

[0116] In some embodiments, the method further includes: monitoring at least one of the following parameters: the raw material, the pulverized material, the excessive flow rate and / or the size-reduced flow rate; and adjusting the kinetic energy pulverization stage based on the at least one parameter.

[0117] In some embodiments, the at least one parameter includes at least one of the following: a feed rate of the raw material, a moisture content of the raw material, a size property of the raw material, a composition of the raw material, a size property of the size-reduced portion of the pulverized material, a composition of the pulverized material, a flow rate of the excessive material flow, a flow rate of the size-reduced material flow, a composition of the excessive material flow, and a composition of the size-reduced material flow.

[0118] In some embodiments, the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the rotational speed.

[0119] In some embodiments, the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the feed rate of the raw material.

[0120] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the excessive flow to a primary separation stage to produce an extended flow.

[0121] In some embodiments, this secondary separation stage includes screening.

[0122] In some embodiments, the secondary separation stage includes magnetic separation.

[0123] In some embodiments, the method further includes subjecting the pulverized material to a downstream dust collection stage to recover a portion of dust from it and generating a pulverized material stream with reduced dust that is fed to the separation stage to generate the size-reduced stream and the excessively large stream.

[0124] In some embodiments, at least a portion of the dust portion is combined with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

[0125] In some embodiments, all of the dust portions are combined with the size-reduced material flow.

[0126] In some embodiments, the downstream dust collection stage helps to separate at least a portion of the ductile material in the process.

[0127] In some embodiments, the downstream dust collection stage helps to separate at least a portion of the fragile material in the reduced-size portion.

[0128] In some embodiments, the raw material comprises a source separation material having a brittle component comprising one of the brittle components comprising one of the ductile components comprising the ductile material coupled to a brittle component comprising one of the ductile components comprising the ductile material.

[0129] In some embodiments, the source separation material comprises gypsum drywall.

[0130] In some embodiments, the gypsum dry wall further comprises a non-fragile component embedded in the ductile component and / or the brittle component.

[0131] In some embodiments, the size reduction portion comprises a pulverized gypsum product.

[0132] In some embodiments, the pulverized gypsum product is configured to be used as an agricultural amendment, a soil amendment, a cement mixture additive, or in the production of drywall panels.

[0133] In some embodiments, the majority of the process comprises a plurality of paper- or cellulose-based substrates.

[0134] In some embodiments, the plurality of paper- or cellulose-based substrates are configured for use as animal bedding, coverings, cement kiln fuel, or in the production of paper products.

[0135] In some embodiments, the source separation material comprises asphalt shingles.

[0136] In some embodiments, the asphalt shingles further comprise one of the non-fragile components embedded in the ductile component and / or the brittle component.

[0137] In some embodiments, the reduced size portion comprises an asphalt product.

[0138] In some embodiments, the bitumen product is configured to be used as an additive in a cement mixture, in the production of biofuels, as a hydrocarbon additive, in the production of bitumen, or in the production of tiles.

[0139] In some embodiments, the majority of the process comprises a plurality of paper- or glass fiber-based substrates.

[0140] In some embodiments, the plurality of paper or glass fiber-based substrates are configured for use as animal bedding, coverings, or in the production of paper products.

[0141] According to another embodiment, a method for processing asphalt shingles is provided, comprising: providing the asphalt shingles comprising a brittle bitumen component coupled to a ductile component; subjecting the asphalt shingles to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the asphalt shingles are fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle bitumen component and an excessive portion originating from the ductile component; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size stream comprising bitumen and an excessive-size stream comprising paper or glass fiber.

[0142] In some embodiments, the stretch component comprises paper or glass fiber.

[0143] In some embodiments, the asphalt shingles further comprise a non-fragile material embedded in one of the brittle asphalt components and / or the ductile components.

[0144] According to another embodiment, a method for processing gypsum drywall is provided, comprising: providing the gypsum drywall comprising a brittle gypsum component coupled to a ductile component; subjecting the asphalt shingles to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the gypsum drywall is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle gypsum component and an excessive portion originating from the ductile component; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size stream comprising gypsum and an excessive-size stream comprising paper.

[0145] In some embodiments, the stretch component comprises paper.

[0146] In some embodiments, the gypsum dry wall further comprises a non-fragile material embedded in one of the brittle gypsum components and / or the ductile component.

Implementation Method

[0148] Processing of streams originating from construction and / or demolition (C&D) debris or C&D raw materials may include a kinetic pulverization stage via a kinetic pulverizer to produce valuable products based on the properties of the input C&D materials. For example, C&D raw materials may be pre-sorted or separated to produce different streams, such as source-separated streams substantially comprising a single type of building material (e.g., asphalt shingle stream or drywall stream) and fine C&D streams remaining from pre-sorting. Each stream may be fed through a pulverization stage to facilitate size reduction and then screened as needed to obtain the corresponding final product.

[0149] In some embodiments, the pulverization stage allows brittle materials to be reduced in size, while ductile materials are released and retained as an excess portion in the pulverized material. In some embodiments, the feedstock includes non-brittle materials that can be released and retained as an excess portion of the pulverized material. The pulverized material is then subjected to a separation stage, which may include mechanical and / or magnetic screening, to separate the excess material from the size-reduced material. The separated excess material can then be discarded and converted into products such as fuel, cover, cement kiln fuel, animal bedding, etc., or further separated according to its composition to recover sub-fractions. Depending on the size and compositional properties of the size-reduced material, it can be repurposed in a variety of applications. For example, size-reduced materials derived from asphalt shingles can be reused to manufacture new shingles or for road paving applications. Size-reduced materials derived from C&D fine-grained or drywall materials can be used in land applications such as alternative daily mulch (ADC) or soil conditioners, fillers, building material additives, and various other applications.

[0150] Construction and / or Demolition (C&D) debris refers to the waste stream generated during the construction, renovation, and / or demolition of roads, bridges, buildings, or other structures. C&D debris may include materials such as Portland cement, asphalt, concrete, steel, timber, tiles, drywall, and bricks. During C&D separation and recycling processes, smaller particles of soil, drywall, timber, concrete, and other materials are generated and contribute to the formation of what is known as a “C&D fine stream” or sometimes “recycled screen material” or RSM. C&D raw materials may also refer to individual building materials that are source-separated or separated at the construction site or generated as waste in the factory’s own manufacturing processes.

[0151] Referring to Figure 1A, raw material 10 derived from construction and / or demolition (C&D) raw materials 12 and / or generated in a material recycling facility (MRF) and / or obtained from pre-sorting stage 14 is supplied to kinetic crushing stage 16 to produce a crushed output stream 18. Raw material 10 may be obtained from pre-sorting stage 14, where C&D raw materials may be separated into different streams, such as streams A, B, and C. Streams A, B, and C may individually be C&D fine streams or source-separated streams, such as streams substantially containing asphalt shingles, drywall panels, or timber. Raw material 10 may include brittle materials as well as non-brittle materials and / or ductile materials. Brittle materials are typically hard, brittle, or fragile, so that kinetic crushing helps to significantly reduce size, converting brittle materials into size-reduced portions. Brittle materials are reduced in size, for example, to particles the size of sand or gravel, and are homogenized to produce crushed output stream 18. Examples of fragile materials may include glass, ceramics, ceramic tiles, certain gypsum or drywall layers, certain asphalt shingle layers, rock and aggregate, yard waste (e.g., soil, leaves, organic plant matter), cement, cinder blocks, bricks, and dry wood. On the other hand, ductile materials are flexible and do not undergo significant size reduction during the dynamic crushing stage 16. Examples of ductile materials include glass fiber, cellulose, plastic or paper-based layers, fibers such as insulation materials and ropes, damp wood, hard plastics, and soft plastics. Conversely, in the context of this application, non-fragile materials are intended to include materials that are generally tough and not easily broken and do not undergo significant size reduction by the crusher. Examples of non-fragile materials may include metals such as rebar, nails, screws, and fasteners. Therefore, when all three types of materials (fragile, non-fragile, and ductile) are present in the raw material 10, the crushed output stream 18 may include a size-reduced portion consisting of broken fragile materials and smaller non-fragile materials, as well as a larger portion containing ductile materials and larger non-fragile materials.

[0152] The crushed output stream 18 may then undergo separation 20 to recover a reduced-size stream 22 consisting primarily of crushed, fragile material and, where applicable, smaller, non-fragile pieces of material, as well as an oversized stream 24 consisting primarily of ductile material and / or larger, non-fragile pieces of material. The separation step 20 may be performed in one or more stages and may utilize a variety of separation equipment. For example, various types of screens may be used, such as vibrating screens, drum screens, rotary screens, and / or high-frequency screens. Other types of separation equipment may also be used, such as dust collectors or magnetic or metal separators. The separation equipment may be new and specifically designed for the C&D raw material processing procedure described herein, or it may be part of an existing separation stage in the facility. In some embodiments, the crushed output stream 18 is separated to produce more than two streams, which may have various properties that facilitate separation and enable downstream repurposing or disposal. For example, separation stage 20 may include multiple separators configured in parallel or in series (e.g., screens, metal separators, sensor-based sorters, and dust separators).

[0153] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG1A, the size-reduced flow 22, comprising both fragile and non-fragile portions, and / or the oversized flow 24, comprising both ductile and non-fragile portions, may undergo a secondary separation stage 20A to separate the non-fragile flow 38 from the fragile flow 23 and the ductile flow 36, respectively. The separation step 20A may include mechanical screening to sort the oversized flow 24 by size or a metal separation stage to separate the non-fragile portions of ferrous and / or non-ferrous metals from the ductile portions of non-metallic materials to generate the non-fragile flow 38 and the ductile flow 36, respectively. In other embodiments, the separation step 20A may include a metal separation stage to separate the non-fragile portions of ferrous and / or non-ferrous metals from the fragile portions of non-metallic materials to generate the non-fragile flow 38 and the fragile flow 23, respectively. Raw materials

[0154] Various C&D raw materials can be subjected to kinetic energy crushing to produce products with reduced target sizes. Some C&D raw materials and their properties will be described in more detail below.

[0155] In some embodiments, raw material 10 may be a dry feed material containing very little or no moisture. Raw material 10 may be fed directly to the kinetic grinding stage 16 without pretreatment, such as surface wetting pretreatment to reduce dust. In other embodiments, raw material 10 may be a wet feed material, which may be fed directly to the kinetic grinding stage 16 without pretreatment, such as drying pretreatment, because the kinetic grinder can effectively handle wet or dry feed materials. For example, the raw material may have a moisture content of up to 50% or between 10% and 40%, and may be fed directly to the kinetic grinder without pre-drying or pre-wetting. For wetter raw materials with a moisture content exceeding 50%, a pre-drying step may be performed to dry the material to below 50%. For drier raw materials with a moisture content below 10%, a surface wetting step may be performed to reduce the amount of dust generated during the kinetic grinding stage 16.

[0156] In some embodiments, the size and geometry of the inlet 70 and / or the housing 60 of the kinetic crusher 50 may be factors in determining the size of the raw material. In some embodiments, the raw material is pre-crushed or reduced in size before the kinetic crushing stage 16. In some embodiments, the density of the feed material may be a factor in determining the size of the raw material and / or the feed rate. For example, the feed rate of the raw material may be varied to take into account the density of the raw material, so that lower-density materials such as drywall can be fed into the kinetic crusher at a faster feed rate than higher-density materials such as wood. C&D Fine Material Flow

[0157] The raw material 10 supplied to the kinetic pulverization stage 16 may be a C&D fines stream generated in the MRF and is conventionally used as ADC landfill cover without further processing or recycling. The MRF receives C&D waste, separates and prepares reusable or valuable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers. The composition of the fines stream may vary and will depend on the composition of the construction and / or demolition debris received by the MRF, as well as the processing equipment and operation of the MRF.

[0158] C&D fines typically include pre-sized, pre-screened, or pre-treated construction and demolition debris from sorting and / or processing systems.

[0159] C&D particles can be mixed or miscellaneous material streams typically originating from residential, commercial, or industrial construction or demolition. C&D particles can be pretreated or screened to remove recyclable contents and / or articles larger than 2 inches (although it is also possible for materials of 3 inches, 4 inches, or larger, such as up to 8 inches), which have limited use or negative values ​​and are typically designated for disposal. In some embodiments, the raw material may be pre-shredded or crushed to this size. In other embodiments, C&D particles are screened to this size to remove larger, reusable C&D debris. In some embodiments, C&D particles may include materials screened from construction and demolition debris processing plants, containing a combination of hard / brittle and soft / ductile components—commonly referred to as "particles," "waste," or "residue" material.

[0160] The C&D fines stream may include any number of materials commonly found on construction sites and / or used in construction processes, including clay or soil, glass, drywall, asphalt shingles, aggregate, ceramics, insulating fibers, rope, metal, cardboard, plastics and paper films, wood, etc. In some embodiments, the C&D fines stream may typically have the following average composition (by weight): approximately 50% to 80% aggregate (e.g., rock, brick, concrete, ceramics, glass, clay); approximately 1% to 5% cellulose material (e.g., cardboard, fiberboard, paper); approximately 5% to 15% wood; gypsum: approximately 5% to 25%; approximately 0.5% to 1% metal; and approximately 1% to 2% plastic. The size-reduced stream resulting from the C&D fines stream may include an inert soil concentrate having up to 0.5% of visible contaminants (e.g., metals, glass, plastics) with a size greater than 4 mm. For example, the size of less fragile or less brittle portions of fragile materials such as wood is reduced to between ¼ inch and 6 inches. Excessive flow can be a mixture of visible contaminants (e.g., plastics and paper mats), excessive organic matter (e.g., green waste, damp wood), and / or non-fragile materials (e.g., metals). Source separation or single-flow feedstock.

[0161] In other embodiments, raw material 10 may comprise a single stream of one type of waste. The single stream raw material may include source-separated building materials or products and, where applicable, non-fragile materials, including brittle materials coupled to ductile materials and, where applicable, non-fragile materials processed by a kinetic energy crusher to release the ductile material. Asphalt shingles

[0162] In some embodiments, the source separation material may include asphalt shingles having a malleable underlayer coupled to a brittle asphalt and mineral particle overlay, such that the pulverization stage allows the release and recovery of asphalt and mineral particles from the malleable underlayer film or membrane. The asphalt shingles may be sorted or unsorted, and sized or unsized, ranging from ¼ inch to full size, such as 12 inches x 36 inches. In some embodiments, the asphalt shingles may be used shingles removed during demolition or roofing operations, comprising a fiberglass or paper underlayer coupled to an asphalt overlay, and, where applicable, may include used metal fasteners embedded in the shingles, such as roofing nails. In some embodiments, the single-stream material may include factory waste without used fasteners, such as misshapen shingles.

[0163] In some embodiments, the asphalt shingles contain about 19% to 36% asphalt cement, about 8% to 40% mineral filler stabilizer (e.g., limestone, silica, or dolomite), and about 20% to 38% mineral particles coupled to a felt pad subbase typically composed of paper or fiberglass mat. Gypsum drywall

[0164] Another example raw material is gypsum drywall panel having a flexible fibrous underlayer coupled to a brittle gypsum overlay, allowing the gypsum to be released and recovered from the flexible underlayer during the crushing stage. The drywall panel can be sorted or unsorted, pre-sized or un-sized drywall sheets, ranging from <2 ½ inches to typically <3 feet × <6 feet pre-crushed sheets. When raw material 10 includes drywall sheets, the size and geometry of the inlet 70 and / or housing 60 of the kinetic crusher 50 may require the drywall sheets to be reduced in size before being fed into the kinetic crusher 50. In some embodiments, the drywall may be used drywall panels removed during dismantling operations, and may include used metal fasteners, such as drywall screws, embedded in the drywall panels. In other embodiments, the raw material may include factory waste without used fasteners, such as misshapen drywall panels. Wood

[0165] Another example of raw material is wood products, such as logs, oriented strand board (OSB), treated wood, untreated wood, engineered wood, etc., which are recovered from demolition operations and / or are waste wood blocks left over from construction or commercial and industrial operations, such as pallets unsuitable for reuse. In some embodiments, wood products may include used fasteners or other metal objects embedded in the wood that cannot be released by magnetic separation pretreatment. Pretreatment stage

[0166] Prior to the kinetic energy crushing stage 16, there are several upstream pre-processing stages for the processable raw material 10. For example, an upstream separation stage includes upstream mechanical screening to pre-sort the raw material 10 by size and / or upstream magnetic separation to pre-sort the raw material to remove at least a portion of the non-friable material prior to the kinetic energy crushing stage 16. In some embodiments, an upstream dust collection stage may pre-sort the raw material to remove at least a portion of the ductile material. In other embodiments, the upstream separation stage may include manual sorting to remove material from the raw material that can be sold as a final product or undergo a separation processing stage.

[0167] Referring now to FIG1B, C&D feed material 410, including raw and unsorted construction and / or demolition debris, may be conveyed to a sorting facility, such as MRF. Feed material 410 undergoes a primary pre-screening stage 420, such as a 10-inch screen, to produce an oversized unsorted stream 422 and an undersized unsorted stream 424.

[0168] Excessive unsorted material flow 422 may, for example, be conveyed via conveyor belt to a manual sorting stage 430, which may include any number of MRF workers, such as 6 to 8 sorting machines, that classify the excessive unsorted material flow 422 into individual source-separated material flows 440 placed in a silo based on the composition of the items. Source-separated material flows 440 may include individual flows of untreated wood, treated wood, metal, cardboard, concrete / brick / blocks, and / or unidentified items. Any unwanted or discarded materials and other residues may be conveyed to a negative sorting stockpile 442.

[0169] The undersized unsorted stream 424 may undergo a magnetic separation pretreatment stage 450 with a magnetic or ferrous separator 452 to remove ferrous particles from the undersized unsorted stream 424 and place it in a ferrous hopper 454. The undersized stream 456 with reduced ferrous content may then undergo a secondary screening stage 460, for example by a 2-inch vibrating or rotary drum screen, to produce a C&D fine stream 462 containing material smaller than 2 inches and an undersized sorted stream 464. The C&D fine stream 462 may be stored in the fine particle hopper 466 to await further processing by a kinetic crusher or to be conveyed to a facility with a kinetic crusher. The undersized unsorted stream 464 may also undergo a manual sorting stage 430 (less than 10 inches), which classifies the undersized sorted stream 464 into individual source separation streams 440, similar to the oversized sorted stream 422. Any unwanted or discarded materials and other residues may be conveyed to undergo a light-heavy separation stage 470, such as an air separator and / or a cyclone separator, to produce a light fraction 472, a medium-heavy fraction 474, and a heavy fraction 476. Based on the contents of the light fraction 472, the medium-heavy fraction 474, and / or the heavy fraction 476, the contents may be redistributed to the source separation stream 440 and / or disposed of.

[0170] In some embodiments, raw material 10 may include a C&D fine stream 462, a negative sorting stockpile 442, a light portion 472, a medium-heavy portion 474, and / or a heavy portion 476. In some embodiments, the negative sorting stockpile 442, the light portion 472, the medium-heavy portion 474, and / or the heavy portion 476 may undergo a pre-crushing or pre-grinding stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage 16. For example, a crusher or high-speed mill may be used to reduce the size of these streams to be included in the C&D fine stream 466 (i.e., a preset size reduces the raw material to a size less than 2, 4, or 6 inches). Kinetic Crushing Stage

[0171] Regarding the kinetic energy crushing stage 16, a single kinetic energy crusher can be implemented and operated as a single-pass stage. For example, raw materials can be fed into the upper part of the kinetic energy crusher, which includes a drum with baffles and an internal rotating rod with multiple arms that generate vortices within the drum chamber. The feed material enters the vortex and undergoes self-collision to reduce the size of fragile materials, while making ductile materials too large and not significantly reducing the size of non-fragile materials. Therefore, when the raw material 10 includes materials having fragile materials connected to ductile and / or non-fragile materials, the kinetic energy crushing stage 16 can promote the release of fragile materials from ductile and / or non-fragile materials.

[0172] In some cases, the process, kinetic crushing stage 16 and / or kinetic crusher 50 can operate in continuous or semi-batch mode. It is also possible to crush materials via kinetic crusher 50 in a single pass or using multiple passes. When using multiple passes, the crushed material from the first pass can be screened, and only a portion of the feed passes through subsequent passes. More generally, certain materials or portions can undergo multiple crushing stages, which can be done in the same kinetic crusher 50 via recycling or in multiple kinetic crushers 50 operating in series. Materials can be fed into the kinetic crusher 50 in batches or continuously. Each pass of the kinetic crusher 50 can be performed under the same or different operating conditions (e.g., rotational speed, feed rate), wherein the variation in operating conditions is determined, for example, based on the composition of the feed for each pass.

[0173] The kinetic energy crushing stage 16 uses kinetic energy, vortex and collision between matter to achieve the reduction of the size of fragile materials, the homogenization of fragile materials, the release of ductile materials and / or non-fragile materials, and / or the mixing of additives that may be incorporated into the raw material 10.

[0174] The material is conveyed to the bottom region of the kinetic energy crusher and discharged as a crushed output stream 18 via the lower outlet. The kinetic energy crusher can operate at rotational speeds between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM, between 600 RPM and 1,100 RPM, or between 700 RPM and 1,000 RPM. The rotational speed can be adjusted in response to other program parameters or kept relatively constant. In some embodiments, the rotational speed is adjusted to control the size and / or quality of the output material. In some embodiments, the rotational speed is adjusted or changed based on the density of the raw material. For example, compared to higher-density raw materials such as wood, lower-density raw materials such as drywall can be reduced in size at a lower rotational speed.

[0175] The kinetic energy pulverization stage not only achieves the target size reduction of fragile materials but also promotes drying and / or pathogen reduction to obtain a higher quality output stream. In some embodiments, the pulverization stage reduces moisture by 5% to 8%, and the subsequent separation stage allows the size-reduced portion to have a further reduced moisture content. C&D Fine Stream

[0176] When the C&D fine stream undergoes kinetic energy pulverization stage 16, the brittle materials in the C&D fine stream are pulverized and homogenized. In some embodiments, the brittle materials in the C&D fine stream are micronized or nano-sized into sand or granular particles. The ductile material, whether freely available in the C&D fine stream or coupled to brittle materials (e.g., glass sheets coupled to a plastic film (ductile)), does not have a significant size reduction and can be isolated from the pulverized brittle materials during separation stage 20. Any particles of non-brittle materials not removed in the metal separation pretreatment step are not significantly reduced in size and can be isolated from both non-brittle and ductile materials during separation stage 20 or a secondary downstream separation stage. Source separation or single-stream raw material asphalt shingles

[0177] When raw material 10 is a source separation or single-stream raw material containing used or waste asphalt shingles and undergoes crushing stage 16, the kinetic crusher crushes and homogenizes the more fragile asphalt components and releases the asphalt components from the less fragile particles and the ductile plastic or fiber underlayer. When raw material 10 includes used shingles, raw material 10 may further include less fragile material that has not been significantly reduced in size and can be separated from the material in a downstream separation stage. In some embodiments, certain sized portions of the crushed output stream 18 containing fragile and / or ductile components may be recycled via a second kinetic crushing stage 16. The second kinetic crushing stage 16 may be a second kinetic crusher 50, or the crushed output stream 18 may be recycled via the same kinetic crusher 50.

[0178] As described herein, a kinetic energy pulverizer induces material-to-material collisions within a vortex generated by the kinetic energy pulverizer. Asphalt shingles typically contain approximately 19% to 36% asphalt cement, which, when heated, can form a viscous, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form. Conventional methods of grinding asphalt shingles generate heat and can cause the asphalt to form a viscous, sticky semi-solid, impairing the function of the grinder and / or the quality of the final product. However, when asphalt shingles undergo a kinetic energy pulverization stage, the shingles undergo material-to-material collisions within a vortex, which itself has an airflow that reduces the heat generated by the material-to-material collisions. In some embodiments, for any given material, the kinetic energy pulverization stage 16 lasts approximately 15 to 20 seconds, after which the material is discharged through a lower outlet, thus significantly reducing heat generation. The resulting pulverized output stream 18 includes pulverized fragile material released from excessively ductile material (i.e., paper or fiberglass underlayer) (i.e., micronized or nano-sized and homogenized unheated or cooled bitumen product), and, where appropriate, when the raw material 10 includes used bitumen shingles, non-fragile materials (i.e., metal fasteners or other impurities).

[0179] In some embodiments, the kinetic pulverization stage 16 can be used in processes for separating and extracting raw materials from residential roofing products such as asphalt shingles, as described in U.S. Patent Nos. 8,919,681, 9,156,035, and 9,440,239, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the kinetic pulverizer 50 described herein can replace one or more of the size reduction stages in such processes. For example, the kinetic pulverization stage 16 described herein can be used to mechanically reduce the size of residential roofing products to produce shredded and / or fragmented products while retaining the ductile underlayer as the majority. (Plaster drywall)

[0180] When raw material 10 is a source separation or single-flow raw material containing used or factory-waste drywall panels and undergoes the pulverization stage 16, the kinetic pulverizer pulverizes and homogenizes the fragile gypsum component and releases the gypsum component from the paper backing, which is a ductile material and therefore not significantly reduced in size. When raw material 10 includes used drywall, raw material 10 further includes non-fragile material that is not significantly reduced in size and can be separated from the material in the downstream separation stage. Wood

[0181] When raw material 10 is a source separation or single-flow raw material containing treated or untreated wood products and undergoes the pulverization stage 16, the kinetic pulverizer pulverizes and homogenizes the fragile wood components and releases the wood components from any non-fragile metal components that can be embedded in the wood. These non-fragile metal components are non-fragile materials and therefore are not significantly reduced in size. The non-fragile materials can be separated from the pulverized fragile materials in a downstream magnetic separation stage, thereby producing homogenized, size-reduced wood products suitable for use in animal bedding, coverings, etc. Separation stage

[0182] Regarding the pulverized output stream 18, in some embodiments, the pulverization stage 16 produces material ranging from particles of ash or dust size to larger particles, most of which (e.g., more than 50%, or between 50% and 70%, or even more than 90%) pass through a 1 / 4-inch sieve. The larger material includes the lower density, flexible portion, and non-fragile portion of the raw material (i.e., ductile material), while brittle, hard, and easily broken materials are pulverized. Some fragile materials may have larger output or pulverized sizes, such as damp wood, which can be reduced in size to pass through a 6-inch to 1 / 4-inch sieve. The pulverization stage 16 homogenizes the resulting size reduction portion to facilitate release and separation from the larger ductile and non-fragile portions via various separation techniques, including screening. The larger portion may consist substantially of ductile materials including plastics and paper films, fibers, etc., and non-fragile materials including metals.

[0183] The excess portion can then be separated from the reduced-size portion using size-based separation techniques such as screening. Various types of mechanical screens can be used to perform screening, such as vibrating screens, rotary screens, drum screens, gyratory screens, and / or high-frequency screens. The mechanical screens can be configured or operated based on the composition and size distribution of the pulverized output stream 18 to facilitate the separation of the reduced-size portion from the excess portion. Screens can be provided to facilitate or maximize high purity or high yield of the excess stream 24 (e.g., plastic), or to facilitate other parameters related to the reduced-size stream 22 and / or the excess stream 24. If necessary, the reduced-size stream 22 and / or the excess stream 24 can then undergo further processing and recycling.

[0184] In some embodiments, the non-fragile material may contain small fragments that cannot be removed by mechanical screening (i.e., small metal particles homogenized with the pulverized fragile material). Separation stage 20 may include metal separation stages upstream and / or downstream of kinetic pulverization stage 16 and / or mechanical screening. When the non-fragile material is embedded within the fragile material, such as metal fasteners embedded in wood, tiles, or drywall, kinetic pulverization stage 16 may release the non-fragile material to allow separation during downstream magnetic separation stage 20. However, an upstream magnetic separation stage may be necessary to remove larger non-fragile materials that could damage the kinetic pulverizer. In some embodiments, the feedstock 10 undergoes an upstream metal separation stage that substantially depletes any non-fragile material in the feedstock 10.

[0185] In some embodiments, the separation stage 20 and the pulverizing stage 16 are coordinated so that the operation of one can affect the other. For example, the screen and pulverizer can be monitored and controlled via controller 26 to achieve desired parameters, such as certain properties of the size-reduced feed stream 22 and / or the excessively large feed stream 24. For example, if a change in the input raw material causes the pulverizer to produce larger-sized portions in the pulverized feed stream 18, the screen can be controlled accordingly to facilitate a desired separation. Furthermore, the kinetic pulverizer can be controlled, for example, by increasing the rotational speed of motor 28 or by reducing the feed rate of the feed conveyor, to bring the size-reduced portions back within the target range to facilitate the desired separation.

[0186] Monitoring instruments, such as inlet detector DI30 and outlet detector DO32, can be provided to monitor the properties of the material flow (e.g., size distribution, composition, moisture content, mass and / or volumetric flow rate). Depending on the size-reduced product to be produced, the screen and kinetic crusher can be operated and designed in certain ways to produce a specific product, such as a final product with the largest possible size. For example, when glass is the main component of the size-reduced portion, the screen may be 50 mesh (~295 μm), and the kinetic crusher is used to reduce the glass size to below 295 μm. When organic matter is the main component of the size-reduced material, such as wood building materials or garden and excavation waste, the screen may be 3 / 8 inch or 1 / 2 inch. However, it should be noted that screen design can be market-driven to provide various size distributions of the size-reduced material.

[0187] In some embodiments, a conveyor system is used to transport various material flows between stages to facilitate continuous operation, but other conveying methods may also be used. The process can be continuous, batch-fed, or operated according to other schemes depending on facilities and other factors. Kinetic crusher

[0188] Kinetic energy crushers may have various structural and operational features. In some embodiments, a kinetic energy crusher may have one or more features as described in PCT / CA2019 / 050967, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0189] Referring now to Figures 2 through 10, a pulverizer 50 according to one embodiment is shown. The pulverizer 50 is adapted to receive input material as described herein and to pulverize or grind the input material.

[0190] It should be understood that the terms “pulverize / pulverization” and “comminute / comminution” used herein refer to particles in the input material that have been reduced in size.

[0191] In the illustrated embodiment, the pulverizer 50 includes a base 52 and a housing 60 mounted above the base 52. Specifically, the housing 60 includes a bottom end 62 connected to the base 52 and a top end 64 opposite to the bottom end 62. The housing 60 is hollow and includes a housing sidewall 66 extending between the top end 64 and the bottom end 62 to define an internal chamber 68 through which pulverization occurs. Specifically, the housing 60 includes an inlet 70 located at the top end 64 for receiving input material and an outlet 72 located at the bottom end 62 through which the pulverized material can be discharged after being pulverized in the internal chamber 66. In the illustrated embodiment, the outlet 72 allows the pulverized material to be discharged in a direction tangential to the housing sidewall 66. It should be understood that the outlet 72 can be configured differently. For example, the outlet 72 may be located on the bottom surface of the housing 60 so that the pulverized material can be discharged downward in an axial direction from the housing 60. It should also be understood that, alternatively, outlet 72 may be positioned substantially toward the bottom 62, but may not be precisely positioned at the bottom 62 of housing 60. Similarly, inlet 70 may not be precisely positioned at the top 64 of housing 60, but is generally positioned toward the top 64.

[0192] In the illustrated embodiment, the housing 60 is generally cylindrical and a central housing axis H is defined extending between the top 64 and the bottom 62 of the housing 60. The housing 60 is adapted to be arranged such that the central housing axis H extends substantially vertically during operation of the crusher 50. In this configuration, the input material fed into the inlet 70 will eventually tend to fall towards the outlet 72 due to gravity.

[0193] In the illustrated embodiment, the airflow generator 100 includes a pulverizing rotor assembly 102 disposed within an internal chamber 68 and a rotary actuator 104 operatively coupled to the pulverizing rotor assembly 102 to rotate the pulverizing rotor assembly 102 to generate an airflow, for example to facilitate air removal. Specifically, the pulverizing rotor assembly 102 includes a rotatable shaft 106 located within the internal chamber 68 and extending along a central housing axis H between the top end 64 and the bottom end 62 of the housing 60, and a plurality of pulverizing rotors 108a, 108b, 108c fixed to the rotatable shaft 106 so as to rotate about the central housing axis H when the rotatable shaft 106 rotates.

[0194] Each crushing rotor 108a, 108b, 108c includes a rotor hub 120 and a plurality of rotor arms 122 extending outward from the rotor hub 120 and toward the housing sidewall 66. A rotatable shaft 106 extends through the rotor hub 120 such that the rotor arms 122 are positioned in a plane of rotation R orthogonally extending through the central housing axis H. In this configuration, as the rotatable shaft 106 rotates, the rotor arms 122 are thus held in and move along the plane of rotation R. Alternatively, the rotor arms 122 may be tilted upward or downward relative to the rotatable shaft 106, rather than being entirely positioned in the plane of rotation. In yet another embodiment, the rotor arms 122 may be substantially pivotally connected to the rotatable shaft 106 such that the rotor arms 122 can be selectively tilted upward and downward as needed, i.e., manually tilted or automatically tilted using one or more arm actuators.

[0195] In the illustrated embodiment, the plurality of airflow deflectors 200 includes six deflectors 200 that are substantially similar to each other and substantially uniformly spaced from each other in the azimuth direction (i.e., along the circumference of the housing sidewall 66) around the central housing axis H. Alternatively, all deflectors 200 may not be similar to each other, may not be uniformly spaced from each other, and / or the pulverizer 50 may include more or fewer than six deflectors 202. For example, the pulverizer 50 may include between two and eight deflectors 200.

[0196] In the illustrated embodiment, each deflector 200 is elongated and extends substantially parallel to the housing axis H. Specifically, since the housing 60 is positioned such that the central housing axis H extends substantially vertically, the deflector 200 also extends substantially vertically.

[0197] As best shown in Figures 6 to 8, each deflector 200 includes a top end 202 positioned toward the top end 64 of the housing 60 and a bottom end 204 positioned toward the bottom end 62 of the housing 60. In the illustrated embodiment, each deflector 200 is positioned to intersect the plane of rotation R of the upper crushing rotor 108a and the intermediate crushing rotor 108c. More specifically, the top end 202 of the deflector 200 is located above the upper crushing rotor 108a, and the bottom end 204 of the deflector 200 is located below the intermediate crushing rotor 108c, and the deflector 200 extends continuously between its top end 202 and bottom end 204.

[0198] It should be understood that the rotation of the rotor arm 122 will cause the air in the internal chamber 68 to move outward toward the outer casing sidewall 66. In the above configuration, since the deflector 200 is horizontally aligned with the upper crushing rotor 108a and the middle crushing rotor 108c, the air will be deflected by the deflector 200 by the upper crushing rotor 108a and the middle crushing rotor 108c against the deflector 200 to form a vortex V, as best shown in Figures 9 and 10.

[0199] In the illustrated embodiment, each deflector 200 is typically wedge-shaped. Specifically, each deflector 200 typically has a triangular cross-section and includes an airflow-facing deflecting surface 206 facing the airflow when the rotatable axis 106 rotates, and a relative deflecting surface 208 facing away from the airflow. The airflow-facing deflecting surface 206 and the relative deflecting surface 208 extend away from the housing sidewall 26 and converge toward each other to meet at a vertex 210 pointing toward the housing central axis H. The airflow-facing deflecting surface 206 is inclined with respect to the inner surface 34 of the housing sidewall 26 at a first deflection angle θ1, and the relative deflecting surface 208 is inclined with respect to the inner surface 74 of the housing sidewall 76 at a second deflection angle θ2.

[0200] In the illustrated embodiment, each deflector 200 is symmetrical about an axis of symmetry S extending along the radius of the housing 60. In this embodiment, the first deflection angle θ1 is therefore substantially equal to the second deflection angle θ2. In one embodiment, the first deflection angle θ1 and the second deflection angle θ2 may be equal to about 1 degree to 89 degrees, and more specifically, to about 30 degrees to 60 degrees. Alternatively, the deflectors 200 may be asymmetrical and the first deflection angle θ1 and the second deflection angle θ2 may be different from each other.

[0201] In the illustrated embodiment, the apex 210 of each deflector 200 is radially spaced inward from the inner surface 74 of the housing sidewall by a radial distance of approximately 7 ¾ inches or approximately 20 cm. Still in the illustrated embodiment, the apex 210 is further radially spaced outward from the tip 130 of the rotor arm 122 by a radial distance between approximately 1 / 2 inch or approximately 1 cm and approximately 2 inches or approximately 5 cm. In one embodiment, the radial distance or "clearance" between the tip 130 of the rotor arm 122 and the apex 210 may be selected such that a vortex V can be formed as needed when the rotatable shaft 106 rotates.

[0202] Alternatively, the deflector 200 may be shaped and / or sized differently. For example, the deflecting surface 206 facing the airflow and the opposing deflecting surface 208 may not be planar, but may be curved. In another embodiment, the deflector 200 may not include the opposing deflecting surface 208. In yet another embodiment, the deflector 200 is not wedge-shaped, but may have a rectangular cross-section or any other shape and size that a person skilled in the art deems suitable.

[0203] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the vortex V generated in the internal chamber 68 when the crusher 50 is running.

[0204] During operation of the pulverizer 10, the rotatable shaft 106 rotates about the housing axis H, so that the rotor arm 122 forms a circular airflow rotating about the housing axis H. In the example shown in FIG10, when viewed from above, the rotatable shaft 106 rotates in a clockwise direction to form a counterclockwise airflow in the internal chamber 68.

[0205] The rotatable shaft 106 can rotate at a relatively high speed to provide the desired pulverizing effect in the pulverizer. In one embodiment, the rotatable shaft 106 rotates at a speed between about 500 rpm and about 1200 rpm, and more specifically between about 700 rpm and about 1100 rpm or between about 1000 rpm and about 1100 rpm. Alternatively, the rotatable shaft 106 may be allowed to rotate at different speeds to form vortices as described below. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the rotational speed of the rotatable shaft 106 can be adjusted to produce a size reduction portion of the desired particle size and / or prevent or reduce excessive size reduction of ductile and / or non-pulverizable materials.

[0206] The airflow normally travels along the inner surface 34 of the outer casing sidewall 66, but is interrupted by the deflecting surface 206 of the deflector 200 facing the airflow. This deflecting surface cooperates with the rotor arm 122, and more specifically with the tip of the rotor arm 122, to form a vortex V. As shown in FIG10, the vortex V can be further guided inward by the adjacent deflector 200' toward the central outer casing axis H.

[0207] Referring again to FIG. 10, each vortex V further overlaps with at least one adjacent vortex V1, V2, such that input material particles suspended in vortex V collide with input material particles suspended in one or more adjacent vortices V1, V2. More specifically, each generated vortex V typically includes an outwardly moving portion 500 generally defined by airflow circulating from shaft 106 toward housing sidewall 66 and an inwardly moving portion 502 generally defined by airflow circulating from housing sidewall 26 toward shaft 106. As shown in FIG. 10, the outwardly moving portion 500 of each vortex V overlaps with the inwardly moving portion 502 of the first adjacent vortex V1, and the inwardly moving portion 502 of each vortex overlaps with the outwardly moving portion 500 of the second adjacent vortex V2.

[0208] In this configuration, the input material particles in the vortex thus collide with input material particles moving at twice the speed of the particles in vortex V. For example, in one embodiment, vortices V, V1, and V2 rotate at approximately one-third the speed of sound. When input material particles from the first adjacent vortex V1 and the second adjacent vortex V2 collide with input material particles suspended in vortex V, these particles, moving at the same speed but in opposite directions, will collide with each other at approximately two-thirds the speed of sound.

[0209] In one embodiment, in addition to the input material particles being impacted by the airflow and vortex V, the input material can also be further pulverized by the rotor arm 122 impacting the input material particles in the internal chamber 68 as the rotatable shaft 106 rotates. In this embodiment, the combined effect of the input material particles impacting each other in the overlapping vortices V, V1, V2 and the rotor arm 122 impacting the input material particles can improve the efficiency of the pulverizer. Furthermore, since the overlapping vortex V causes the particles to impact each other rather than impacting the surface inside the housing 20, the wear of the components inside the housing 20 can be reduced.

[0210] It should be understood that, for ease of understanding, the vortex V shown in Figures 9 and 10 has been simplified, and in practice, the vortex V may not be as precisely circular as shown or may not be as precisely positioned as indicated in Figure 10.

[0211] In the illustrated embodiment, the shredder 50 further includes a plurality of shelves 300a, 300b extending inwardly from the housing sidewall 26. Specifically, the plurality of shelves 300a, 300b includes an upper shelf 300a and a lower shelf 300b spaced downwardly from the upper shelf 300a. Each shelf 300a, 300b extends circumferentially about the housing axis H and along the housing sidewall 26. It should be understood that the shelves therefore extend substantially orthogonally to the deflector 200. Specifically, the deflector 200 generally extends parallel to the housing axis H and may therefore be said to extend axially relative to the housing 60, while the shelves may be said to extend azimuthally relative to the housing 60. In the illustrated embodiment, the deflector 200 generally extends vertically, while each shelf 300a, 300b is positioned in a generally horizontal plane and therefore generally extends horizontally.

[0212] In the embodiment still illustrated, each shelf 300a, 300b extends substantially continuously around the housing sidewall 66. Alternatively, the shelves 300a, 300b may not extend continuously around the housing sidewall 66, but may include a plurality of shelf segments spaced apart from each other to define gaps between adjacent shelf segments.

[0213] In the illustrated embodiment, the upper shelf 300a is substantially horizontally aligned with the upper crushing rotor 108a, and the lower shelf 300b is substantially horizontally aligned with the intermediate crushing rotor 108c. Alternatively, each shelf 300a, 300b may be positioned slightly below the corresponding crushing rotor 108a, 108c.

[0214] In the illustrated embodiment, each shelf 300a, 300b includes a top shelf surface 302 extending downward and away from the housing sidewall 66. Specifically, since the shelves 300a, 300b extend along the housing sidewall 66 and about the housing axis H, the top shelf surface 302 is substantially conical. Still in the illustrated embodiment, the top shelf surface 302 is inclined relative to the housing sidewall 66 at an angle between about 1 degree and about 89 degrees, at about 1 degree the top shelf surface 302 will rest almost flat against the housing sidewall 66, and at about 89 degrees the top shelf surface 302 will be almost orthogonal to the housing axis H. In one embodiment, the top shelf surface 302 may be inclined relative to the housing sidewall 66 at an angle between 30 degrees and 60 degrees.

[0215] Shelves 300a and 300b are configured to deflect the airflow of the guide shelves upwards. This allows the input material particles to remain temporarily suspended above shelves 300a and 300b. The input material particles can thus be affected by vortices and undergo longer periods of crushing through impact with rotor arms 122, thereby further reducing the size of the input material particles as they move toward the next rotor stage or downward toward outlet 72.

[0216] The upward deflection of the airflow can further promote the vortex V within the internal chamber 68. More specifically, as shown in Figure 9, in addition to rotating in a plane orthogonal to the outer shell axis H as illustrated in Figure 10, the vortex V can also rotate in a plane normally parallel to the outer shell axis, i.e., vertically. Therefore, the combined effect of the shelves 300a, 300b and the deflector 200 helps to form a three-dimensional vortex V so that the air within the vortex V moves along a three-dimensional travel path, which can further promote the collision between the input material particles of adjacent, overlapping vortices V.

[0217] This configuration further allows the number of vortices V generated by the deflectors 200 to be multiplied by the number of shelves 300a, 300b in the housing 60. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the shredder 50 includes six deflectors 200, which can form six vortices above each shelf 300a, 300b, for a total of 12 vortices in the entire internal chamber 68.

[0218] The pulverizer can be designed and sized to process raw materials for single-pass processing. For example, the pulverizer can be sized to process 5 to 20 metric tons per hour or 10 to 15 metric tons per hour of C&D shredded material streams containing mixtures of components as described above, while operating at a rotational speed between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM as a single-pass unit to produce one or more of the sized output streams described herein. Multiple raw material streams

[0219] Referring now to Figure 11, it is also possible to provide a kinetic energy crusher 50, which is for single-pass operation and capable of handling various different raw materials without operational variation or with variations only related to rotational speed and / or feed rate. For example, the kinetic energy crusher 50 can be implemented in a large plant 1000 that produces multiple different raw materials A, B, C to crush the raw materials at different times and produce separate output streams that can withstand separation. This can occur in a single screen or in separate screens designed for production of a given raw material and final product. Thus, a single kinetic energy crusher 50 and one or more screens can be implemented in a plant that produces multiple residual raw materials A, B, C to facilitate the production of various final products.

[0220] Figure 11 shows a plant 1000 that receives construction and / or demolition debris 1002 and produces recycled material 1004, as well as multiple raw material streams A, B, and C supplied to individual silos or storage locations 1006. Raw material streams A, B, and C may individually undergo a kinetic crushing stage using a kinetic crusher 50 and be processed in batches. In some embodiments, one or more of raw materials A, B, and C may be combined with a fragile additive 1008 before or simultaneously with being supplied to the kinetic crusher 50. In some embodiments, the fragile additive 1008 may include a pore-forming agent, soil additive, building material additive, compost additive, peat moss, and glass product additive. The fragile additive 1008 may be included to help reduce the size of the fragile material and / or to homogenize it with the crushed fragile material to produce a final product.

[0221] The kinetic energy crusher 50 generates a crushed output stream of material supplied to corresponding screens A, B, or C to produce materials with corresponding size reduction. In this way, a single crusher can be used to upgrade multiple raw materials generated by the construction and demolition material recycling plant 1000.

[0222] For example, in some embodiments, construction and / or demolition debris 1002 may undergo an upstream separation stage, such as a magnetic separation stage and / or manual sorting separation, to remove large metal objects and reusable materials, such as metal beams, large intact logs, recycled wood, reusable building materials, cardboard, glass, asphalt shingles, drywall panels, etc. Wood products, asphalt shingles, and / or drywall panels may be sorted into individual raw material streams, such as raw material A or B. Residual materials or residues may be separated into C&D fine-grained raw material C. For example, raw material A may include asphalt shingles made of a ductile glass fiber or cellulose (paper) underlayer coupled to brittle bitumen and mineral particles, and, where applicable, non-brittle metal fasteners. Raw material B may include recycled drywall panels made of brittle gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) and other additives such as mica, clay, and resin, ductile paper film, and non-brittle metal fasteners such as drywall screws. Raw material C may include a C&D fine stream containing various building material particles, including brittle, ductile and non-brittle materials.

[0223] Individual streams of raw materials A, B, and C can be continuously supplied to the kinetic pulverizer 50 without operational changes or with changes only related to rotational speed and / or feed rate. When switching between different streams of raw materials A, B, and C, contaminants remaining in the kinetic pulverizer 50 should be considered. For example, if raw material B follows the kinetic pulverization stage of raw material A, asphalt contaminants can enter the brittle gypsum product. In some embodiments, contaminants can be prevented by removing the pulverized output stream from raw material B during the first approximately 15 to 20 minutes of processing. In other embodiments, the kinetic pulverizer 50 may undergo a cleaning stage between batches of raw materials A, B, or C.

[0224] In some cases, the reduced-size portion (i.e., crushed brittle material), the ductile material, and / or the non-brittle material in the excess portion can be recycled as a final product. In an exemplary embodiment, the separation of raw material A by SEPA produces: a reduced-size stream 1010A, which includes, for example, reusable asphalt and mineral particles in asphalt pavements and, where appropriate, a smaller non-brittle component; and an excess stream 1012A, which includes a ductile portion (i.e., a glass fiber or cellulose underlayer) and, where appropriate, a larger non-brittle component. The separation of raw material B by SEPB produces: a reduced-size stream 1010B, which includes reusable gypsum, mica, clay, and resin, for example, to produce cement as a soil additive and / or fertilizer or to manufacture new drywall, and, where appropriate, a smaller non-brittle component; and an excess stream 1012B, which includes a ductile portion (i.e., a paper film) and, where appropriate, a non-brittle portion (i.e., metal fasteners that can be recycled or sold as scrap metal). The separation of raw material C into SEPC results in: a size-reduced flow 1010C, which includes, for example, reusable micronized C&D fine particles as ADC or non-structural fillers and, where appropriate, smaller, less fragile components; and an oversized flow 1012C, which includes ductile portions (i.e., paper or plastic film, insulating fibers, ropes, damp wood, etc.) and, where appropriate, less fragile portions (i.e., metal fasteners, which can be recycled or sold as scrap metal).

[0225] In some embodiments, the size-reducing streams 1010A, 1010B, and 1010C and / or the oversized streams 1012A, 1012B, and 1012C may undergo a secondary separation stage including metal separation, as described herein, to remove smaller and larger non-fragile components from the size-reducing and oversized streams. The non-fragile materials can then be recycled or sold as scrap metal. Metal Separation Stage

[0226] Referring now to FIG12, in some embodiments, the process includes a metal or magnetic separation stage 2000 upstream of the kinetic crushing stage 16 to capture metal from the feedstock 10. The separated metal 2002 may be provided as scrap metal for resale, recycling, or disposal. In some embodiments, the magnetic separation stage 2000 may include magnets for separating ferrous metals from the feedstock 10 and / or a nonferrous metal separator for separating nonferrous metals by means of permanent magnets.

[0227] The lean metal feedstock 2004 can be fed into the kinetic crushing stage 16. A magnetic separator can be designed and operated to remove metals with high weight density, thereby reducing wear and damage to the kinetic crusher. For example, a magnetic separator can be provided based on the nominal size of the feedstock and the ferrous objects to be removed. For example, a magnetic separator can be provided to ensure the removal of solid ferrous objects with high weight in a low overall volume. While some geometries, such as flat plates, may have little impact on the operation of the kinetic crusher 50, other geometries, such as blocks, thick masses, and the like, increase wear and damage, and therefore the magnetic separation stage 2000 helps to remove them to enhance downstream processing. The magnetic separator can be configured based on the size of the feedstock, the size of the ferrous objects, and the depth of material loading. The magnetic separator can be actively controlled or simply turned on to achieve separation. The magnetic separation stage 2000 helps reduce the risk of wear and damage to the kinetic crushing stage 16 and also diverts more waste from landfills by recycling scrap metal.

[0228] In some embodiments, the magnetic separation stage 2000 can remove non-fragile materials downstream of the kinetic crushing stage 16 from the self-crushed output stream 18, the size-reduced stream 22, and / or the oversized stream 24. For example, small metal fragments that cannot be separated from the size-reduced portion by mechanical screening can be removed by the downstream magnetic separation stage 2000. When the raw material 10 includes non-fragile materials embedded in brittle materials, such as nails or screws embedded in tiles or drywall panels, the non-fragile metal material can be removed by the downstream magnetic separation stage 2000. When the oversized stream 24 includes both ductile and non-fragile materials, the non-fragile material can be separated from the ductile material by the downstream magnetic separation stage 2000. In some embodiments, the process may include upstream and downstream magnetic separation stages 2000.

[0229] Various types of magnetic separators can be used in the magnetic separation stage 2000, and these magnetic separators can be selected based on the raw material and the feed rate. For example, depending on the moisture content of the raw material, the magnetic separator can be a dry magnetic separator or a wet magnetic separator. The magnetic separator can have a magnetic field strength designed to remove target ferrous metal objects that may cause problems for the kinetic energy crushing stage 16. The magnetic separator can also include permanent magnets and electromagnetic magnetic separators. The magnetic separator can also have various design and structural features, such as drum type, roll type, disc type, ring type, belt type, etc. Depending on the system and the design and configuration of the raw material, the magnetic separator can also use a constant, alternating, pulsating, or rotating magnetic field. The magnet itself can be made of various materials.

[0230] While magnetic separation is a preferred mechanism for removing metals from raw materials, various other metal removal methods exist that can be used in place of magnetic separation or in addition to magnetic separation. Additional metal removal stages can be designed to remove non-ferrous metals, particularly metal debris that has a high gravimetric density and is therefore relatively heavy and thick. In some embodiments, a metal removal method (e.g., magnetic separation) is performed to remove all metal debris with an average diameter of 1 inch or greater. Bulk or elongated metal debris is removed, and, where appropriate, metal debris with a flat shape is also removed.

[0231] Referring now to Figures 13 and 14, two example configurations of the magnetic separation stage 2000 are shown. Figure 13 shows a belt magnetic separator 2006, which includes a self-cleaning magnetic belt 2008 above a conveyor 2010. The magnetic belt 2008 discharges ferrous metals into a storage bin 2012. The magnetic belt 2008 can be mounted to a magnet frame 2014 spanning a conveyor 2010, such as a feed conveyor and / or a discharge conveyor. Figure 14 shows an alternative configuration, which includes a stationary magnet 2018 mounted above the conveyor 2010 and configured to move back and forth on a track 2020. Dust collection stage

[0232] Referring back to Figure 12, the process may also include a downstream dust collection stage 3000 for recovering dust as part of the pulverized output stream 18 leaving the kinetic energy pulverization stage 16. The pulverized output stream 18 enters the dust control stage 3000, which recovers the dust stream 3002 and produces a dust-reduced pulverized stream 3004 that has passed through the feeding to the separation stage 20. The dust collection stage 3000 facilitates dust control and may include various units, such as settling chambers and bag filters or cyclone filter units.

[0233] Referring to FIG13, the dust collection stage 3000 may include a dust collector 3006 coupled to the outlet of the kinetic energy crushing stage 16, and may include a settling chamber 3008 having a dust outlet 3010 located at its top. The dust outlet may be in fluid communication with a dust recovery unit 3014 via a conduit 3012, the dust recovery unit including a bag filter or cyclone filter unit 3016 having a dedicated motor 3018. The dust recovery unit 3014 may also include a dust recovery container 3020, which receives dust from the bag filter or cyclone filter unit, for example, via a hopper.

[0234] The settling chamber 3008 receives all the output from the kinetic crushing stage 16 and thus receives relatively fine particles deposited on the discharge conveyor 3022, allowing the fine particles to be added to the transferred output. The fine particles settle on the discharge conveyor 3022, while extremely fine dust particles accumulate and are discharged from the settling chamber via the dust outlet 3010. Depending on the program design and the target level of dust control, the settling chamber 3008 may extend along a portion or the entire length of the discharge conveyor 3022. The settling chamber 3008 may be connected to the outlet of the kinetic crusher via a flexible tubular member, as the kinetic crusher is subject to vibration.

[0235] The amount of dust in the pulverized output stream 18 is highly dependent on the type and dryness of the raw material supplied to the kinetic pulverization stage 16. For example, it has been observed that the output transfer rate of some raw materials is as high as approximately 30%. In some embodiments, the raw material 10 may undergo a surface wetting pretreatment step to increase its moisture content and help reduce the amount of dust being generated. After the moisture content of the raw material 10 has been increased, the pulverization stage reduces the moisture, thus requiring the addition of a dust collection stage 3000.

[0236] It should be noted that the power supply and suction of the dust collection stage 3000 can be adjusted to increase the amount of material captured in the dust collector. For example, the dust recovery unit 3014 can be controlled to provide the required suction in the dust collector 3006. Therefore, the dust collection stage 3000 can be designed and operated as a tool that automatically separates the output materials of the crushing stage 16, for example, separating smaller and lower-density brittle materials from larger or denser brittle materials. For example, when handling demolition debris including wood and drywall, the dust collection stage 3000 can be used to separate fine or granular particles of crushed plaster from larger crushed wood (i.e., wood chips). It should also be noted that the dust collector 3006 can also pick up some relatively light and malleable materials, such as paper or plastic film sheets, and these malleable materials can therefore be separated by either or both of the separation stage 20 and the dust collection stage 3000. In some implementations, after the asphalt shingles have been treated in the kinetic crushing stage, the dust collector 3000 can be used to separate up to 50% of the resulting brittle asphalt component from the excess in the reduced-size portion.

[0237] Referring still to Figure 13, a bag filter or cyclone filter 3016 captures finer and lighter materials, which can be stored in container 3020. This finely recycled material 3024 can be added back to the transferred output stream, disposed of, and / or preserved as a fine-particle product for sale. The finely recycled material 3024 can be recycled back to one or more stages of the system. In some embodiments, the finely recycled material 3024 will be supplied to dust reduction stream 3004 or size reduction stream 22, or will be kept as a different product stream for sale or mixed with other materials to provide a commercial product. It should be noted that recycled dust materials can be handled, transported, and used in various ways, some of which are described herein. Experimental Kinetic Energy Crusher vs. Grinding Mill

[0238] Comparative experiments were conducted on MRF fine particles obtained from municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment plants. The MRF fine particles used as raw materials were less than 2 ½ inches in size, and the samples underwent size reduction in a kinetic shredder and grinding unit (Rotochopper®) as described herein. The size-reduced material was then subjected to ½-inch screening to obtain the screened portion and the oversized waste portion. A vibrating screen was used for comparative testing.

[0239] Based on observations and results, the quality and yield of the screened portion were significantly higher when using a kinetic energy pulverizer compared to a grinding mill. Furthermore, less organic material was found in the waste portion using a kinetic energy pulverizer compared to a grinding mill.

[0240] For example, with a kinetic pulverizer, the waste content in the screening section is 11%, compared to 21% in the case of a grinder. This means that unwanted materials are excessively reduced in size by the grinder, making them more likely to pass through the screen containing the desired material, resulting in a lower product quality compared to the kinetic pulverizer. In contrast, the kinetic pulverizer facilitates the release and separation of these unwanted materials, thereby producing a higher quality screened product. In the test, the kinetic pulverizer improved the production of the screening section, reducing the amount of unwanted materials by almost half compared to the grinder test.

[0241] Furthermore, with kinetic energy crushers, the proportion of man-made objects such as glass, ceramics, and plastics in waste materials is 4.5%, while with grinders it is 8.1%. This indicates that kinetic energy crushers can reduce the size of hard man-made materials to be included in the screening section, while grinders cannot achieve this size reduction, thereby resulting in a larger weight percentage of man-made objects in the majority.

[0242] Therefore, the kinetic energy crusher can reduce the size of organic matter and hard man-made objects, so that almost 90% of the input MRF particles are reduced in size and included in the screened product section. By means of the kinetic energy crusher, very little organic matter is lost, thereby improving the organic matter recovery rate of the final product.

[0243] The table below provides a more detailed overview of comparative test results with data on size distribution and contaminant composition. The test results confirm several advantages of using a kinetic energy pulverizer to process raw materials such as MRF fine particles. result Kinetic energy crusher grinder Material size reduction before screening Selected Part Material size reduction before screening Selected Part Solid pollutants (%) Total plastic content > 4 mm 2.2 0.4 1.1 1.6 Film plastic > 4 mm 0.63 <0.1 0.4 0.4 Glass > 4 mm 0.43 0.81 2.4 2.1 Metal > 4 mm <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 Sharp objects > 2 mm Not detected Not detected Not detected Not detected total 2.6 1.21 3.5 3.7 Size distribution (%) >50 mm 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 25 to 50 mm 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 16 to 25 mm 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.5 to 16 mm 4.1 0.4 9.2 4.7 6.3 to 9.5 mm 4.2 3.3 15.3 15.2 4.0 to 6.3 mm 6.1 5.2 22.3 20.4 2.0 to 4.0 mm 27 16.1 28.5 30.1 <2.0 mm 56.9 75.0 24.7 29.5

[0244] As can be seen from the table, the kinetic energy pulverizer achieves a higher proportion of smaller particle size distribution compared to a grinder. For example, with the kinetic energy pulverizer, 75% of the screened material has a particle size smaller than 2 mm, while only 29.5% of the screened portion from the grinder has a particle size smaller than 2 mm. Furthermore, the proportion of total plastic decreases due to the size reduction of the kinetic energy pulverizer material, while the proportion of total plastic used for the size reduction of the grinder material increases. Since film plastics are released rather than excessively reduced in size, film plastics decrease significantly after the size reduction of the kinetic energy pulverizer material, while the proportion of film plastics remains unchanged after the size reduction of the grinder material. Generally, when using a kinetic energy pulverizer for the size reduction stage, the contaminant concentration is lower. Physical characterization of C&D fine particles after the kinetic energy pulverization stage.

[0245] Referring now to Figures 16A and 16B, C&D fine material streams 600A and 600B are shown before the kinetic energy crushing stage (left), and the crushed brittle material is shown after the kinetic energy crushing stage (right). C&D fine material streams 600A and 600B include screening from the MRF and a smaller waste portion of approximately 2 to 4 inches. C&D fine material streams 600A and 600B undergo a kinetic energy crushing stage to produce crushed output streams. The crushed output streams of C&D fine material streams 600A and 600B undergo a separation stage to remove ductile and non-brittle materials, producing crushed brittle materials 602A and 602B respectively. As can be seen, crushed brittle materials 602A and 602B are homogeneous, fine, and uniform materials similar to soil and can be used as ADCs, soil substitutes, fillers, etc.

[0246] Referring now to Figure 16C, a graph comparing the particle size of the crushed fragile material 604 with the particle size of the uncrushed C&D fines 606 is shown. The particle size of the uncrushed C&D fines 606 was determined by the Construction and Demolition Materials Recycling Association (CDRA) in its 2017 report entitled "Characterization of Fines from US Construction and Demolition Materials Recycling Facilities" after classifying C&D fines from 12 different construction and demolition debris recycling facilities by size. As can be seen, the particle size of the crushed fragile material 604 according to this specification is significantly smaller than the particle size of the uncrushed or unprocessed C&D fines 606. More than 30% of the crushed fragile material passed through a sieve with a diameter of less than 0.1 mm, and more than 90% passed through a sieve with a diameter of 2.0 mm (#10 sieve), while only about 5% to 30% of the uncrushed C&D fines 606 passed through a 2 mm sieve. Example

[0247] The methods and procedures described herein can be used to produce several final products that can be used in a variety of applications. C&D fine particles

[0248] As shown in Figures 16A and 16B, the methods and procedures described herein produce micronized C&D fine particles that can be used as soil substitutes, such as non-structural fillers, ADCs, or other land-based applications. In some embodiments, additives may be added separately or simultaneously with the C&D fine particle stream feedstock to a kinetic grinder to produce a homogenized final product. For example, the micronized C&D fine particle product can be homogenized by recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), which may be derived from the same C&D debris supply source as the C&D fine particle stream (i.e., the concrete / brick / block source separation stream 440 mentioned in Figure 1A). In some embodiments, RCA may be mixed with the micronized C&D fine particle product produced by the methods described herein at ratios of 60 / 40, 70 / 30, and 80 / 20 for use as a structural or non-structural filler. Drywall

[0249] According to the method described herein, 6,000 pounds of drywall plaster from a construction site were processed by a kinetic pulverizer. The kinetic pulverizer was operated at rotational speeds of 700, 800, and 975 rpm to produce a mixture of pulverized plaster product and recycled paper product. Samples of the pulverized plaster product and recycled paper product were collected at each rotational speed and the samples were subjected to a separation stage using sieves of 19 mm, 6.3 mm, 4 mm, and 2 mm. The resulting sieved products were weighed, and the following size distribution is shown in the table below. 700 RPM sample part original Recycled paper plaster products loss >19 mm 6.3 to 19 mm 4 to 6.3 mm 2 to 4 mm <2 mm Weight (pounds) 19.875 2.45 1.225 0.26875 0.79375 14.7875 0.35 % of the original sample 12.3% 6.2% 1.4% 4.0% 74.4% 1.8% 800 RPM sample Weight (pounds) 16.83125 1.76875 1.25625 0.2125 0.48125 13.10625 0.00625 % of the original sample 10.5% 7.5% 1.3% 2.9% 77.9% 0.04% 975 RPM sample Weight (pounds) 15.6125 0.90625 1.6125 0.26875 0.30625 12.4875 0.03125 % of the original sample 5.4% 9.6% 1.6% 1.8% 74.2% 0.19%

[0250] The sample treated at 700 rpm had the greatest loss (1.8%) compared to samples treated at 800 rpm (0.04%) or 975 rpm (0.19%). Furthermore, when the kinetic pulverizer operated at 800 rpm (77.9%), the total concentration of micronized (size < 2 mm) gypsum increased, with the concentrations at 700 rpm and 975 rpm being only 74.4% and 74.2%, respectively. Although the 800 rpm operating speed resulted in a larger proportion of pulverized gypsum and a smaller total loss, the size of the recycled ductile material, which in this case was the paper backing, should be considered. The results showed that when the kinetic pulverizer operated at 700 rpm, substantial gypsum release / size reduction (74.4% for gypsum below 2 mm, 4.0% for 2 to 4 mm, and 1.4% for 4 to 6.3 mm) was achieved without reducing the size of the paper (12.3% of the output product was paper exceeding 19 mm, compared to only 10.5% and 5.4% of the output product exceeding 19 mm when the kinetic pulverizer operated at 800 rpm and 975 rpm, respectively). Theoretically, operating the kinetic pulverizer at 700 rpm could reduce the total fiber content in the recycled gypsum, thereby producing a purer gypsum final product without reducing the cleanliness of the recycled paper product.

[0251] The gypsum final product produced by the methods described herein can be used in a variety of applications, including as an agricultural amendment, particularly for calcium- and sulfur-loving crops such as peanuts, or as an additive in cement products. In some embodiments, the methods described herein can produce a substantially pure gypsum product that can be used to produce new gypsum drywall. [Simplified Explanation of the Diagram]

[0147] Figure 1A is a flowchart of a process for processing a C&D debris stream using kinetic energy crushing and subsequent separation stages; Figure 1B is a flowchart of a process for pre-processing a C&D debris stream using mechanical and manual separation; Figure 2 is a left perspective view of the crushing equipment according to an embodiment, showing the motor and housing of the crushing equipment; Figure 3 is a right perspective view of the crushing equipment shown in Figure 2, showing the outlet near the bottom of the housing; Figure 4 is a bottom perspective view of the crushing equipment shown in Figure 2, showing the belt connection connecting the motor and the rotatable shaft; Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the housing shown in Figure 3, showing the rotatable shaft and rotor positioned within the housing; Figure 6 is a partially exploded view of the housing of the crushing equipment shown in Figure 2; Figure 7 is a top cross-sectional view of the housing of the crushing equipment shown in Figure 2, showing a plurality of deflectors spaced apart along the sidewall of the housing around the rotatable shaft; Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view of the housing shown in Figure 5, with the rotatable shaft and rotor removed, showing shelves positioned at different levels along the sidewalls inside the housing; Figure 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of the crushing rotor installed inside the housing for the crushing equipment illustrated in Figure 2, showing the vortices generated inside the housing; Figure 10 is a schematic top view of the housing according to an embodiment, showing overlapping vortices within the internal cavity of the housing; Figure 11 is a flowchart for processing multiple C&D streams, such as asphalt shingle stream A, drywall panel stream B, and C&D fine stream C, each obtained by subjecting C&D raw materials to a pre-sorting stage and using kinetic energy crushing and subsequent separation of the streams to produce the final product; Figure 12 is a flowchart for processing waste streams using kinetic energy crushing and subsequent screening, also including a magnetic separation stage and a dust collection stage; Figure 13 is a flowchart for processing waste streams using kinetic energy crushing and subsequent screening, also including a dust collection stage. Figure 14 is a side view of the magnetic separation stage of an example; Figure 15 is a side view of another example of the magnetic separation stage; Figure 16A is a photographic view of the example C&D fine material stream (left) before the kinetic energy crushing stage and the resulting example after the kinetic energy crushing stage, showing crushed fragile material (right); Figure 16B is a photographic view of the example C&D fine material stream (left) before the kinetic energy crushing stage and the resulting example after the kinetic energy crushing stage, showing crushed fragile material (right); and Figure 16C is a graphical representation of the percentage of crushed fragile material passing through a sieve with a size ranging from 0.01 mm to 10 mm.

Claims

1. A method for processing construction and / or demolition (C&D) debris, comprising: providing a C&D debris stream comprising a brittle material and a ductile material; subjecting the C&D debris stream to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the C&D debris stream is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle material and an oversized portion originating from the ductile material; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size debris stream and an oversized debris stream.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the C&D stream contains material with a size less than 2 inches or less than 4 inches.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the kinetic energy crusher operates at a rotational speed between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the kinetic energy crusher operates at a rotational speed between 700 RPM and 1,000 RPM.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the kinetic energy crusher is operated such that the size reduction portion is substantially composed of particles of sand or silt size.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the C&D fine material stream has a moisture content of less than 50% when it enters the kinetic energy crusher.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the C&D fine material stream has a moisture content between 5% and 30% when it enters the kinetic energy crusher.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the C&D fines flow directly to the kinetic crushing stage without a drying stage or a surface wetting stage.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the C&D fines flow through a kinetic crushing stage at a construction site or demolition site where the building and / or demolition debris is generated.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7 further comprises subjecting the C&D fines stream to a drying stage or a surface wetting pretreatment stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the reduced size portion is a homogeneous mixture in the crushed output stream.

12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the kinetic crushing stage dehydrates the C&D fine stream such that the dehydration rate in the kinetic crushing stage is between 5% and 8%.

13. The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, further comprising incorporating a fragile additive into the C&D fine stream such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form a portion of the reduced size portion.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the fragile additive is introduced into the C&D fine stream upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

16. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the fragile additive is introduced directly into the kinetic energy crusher as a stream separated from the C&D fine stream.

17. The method of any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the fragile additive is the RCA and the RCA accounts for at least 60% by weight of the mixture of the RCA and the size reduction portion.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mixture of the RCA and the reduced-size portion is configured for use as a structural or non-structural cleaning filler application.

19. The method of any of requests 1 to 16, wherein the separation phase includes filtering.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the screening comprises using a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

21. The method of claim 19 or 20, wherein the screening is performed using at least one of the following: a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen and a high-frequency screen.

22. The method of any one of claims 1 to 21, further comprising: monitoring at least one of the following parameters: the C&D fine feed stream, the pulverized material, the excessive feed stream and / or the size reduction feed stream; and adjusting the kinetic energy pulverization stage based on the at least one parameter.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of the following: a feed rate of the C&D fine stream, a moisture content of the C&D fine stream, a dimensional property of the C&D fine stream, and a composition of the C&D fine stream.

24. The method of claim 22 or 23, wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of the following: the dimensional properties of the size-reduced portion of the pulverized material, a composition of the pulverized material, a flow rate of the oversized flow, a flow rate of the size-reduced flow, a composition of the oversized flow, and a composition of the size-reduced flow.

25. The method of any one of claims 22 to 24, wherein the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the rotational speed.

26. The method of any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the feed rate of the C&D fines stream.

27. The method of any one of claims 1 to 26, wherein the C&D material stream originates from a building and demolition material recycling facility (MRF).

28. The method of any one of claims 1 to 27, wherein the C&D material stream comprises at least one building material, wherein the fragile material is coupled to the ductile material.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the at least one building material is at least one of the following: asphalt shingles and drywall.

30. The method of claim 28 or 29, wherein the stretchable material is at least one of the following: a plastic backing, a cellulose backing, a glass fiber backing, and a paper backing.

31. The method of any one of claims 1 to 30, wherein the C&D fine stream further comprises a non-fragile material.

32. The method of any one of claims 1 to 31, wherein the C&D stream comprises between 40% and 60% glass, and the size reduction stream is composed of more than 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% glass.

33. The method of any one of claims 1 to 32, wherein the C&D fine stream further comprises a non-fragile component.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising subjecting the C&D fines stream to an upstream magnetic separation stage to remove metals therefrom and generating a lean metal feed stream fed to the kinetic crushing stage.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the upstream magnetic separation stage is performed by one or more magnetic separators configured relative to one of the C&D fine streams.

36. The method of any one of claims 33 to 35, further comprising subjecting at least one of the following to a downstream magnetic separation stage to remove metal therefrom: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the downstream magnetic separation stage is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators relative to a feed of at least one of the following: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

38. The method of any one of claims 34 to 37, wherein the upstream magnetic separation stage or the downstream magnetic separation stage is performed by at least one of: a non-ferrous metal separator and a ferrous metal separator.

39. The method of any one of claims 33 to 38, further comprising subjecting the excessive flow to a primary separation stage to produce an extensible flow and a non-fragile flow.

40. The method of request item 39, wherein the secondary separation stage includes filtering.

41. The method of claim 39 or 40, wherein the secondary separation stage includes magnetic separation.

42. The method of any one of claims 1 to 41, further comprising subjecting the pulverized material to a dust collection stage to recover a portion of dust therefrom and generating a pulverized material stream with reduced dust that passes through the separation stage to generate the size-reduced stream and the excessively large stream.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein at least a portion of the dust portion is combined with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein all of the dust portions are combined with the size-reduced material flow.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the dust collection stage facilitates the separation of at least a portion of the ductile material in the bulk.

46. ​​The method of claim 42, wherein the dust collection stage facilitates the separation of at least a portion of the fragile material from the reduced-size portion.

47. The method of any one of claims 42 to 46, wherein the dust collection stage comprises: a dust collector coupled to an outlet of the kinetic crushing stage or to a solid conveying device configured to convey the crushed material away from the kinetic crushing stage; and a dust recovery unit coupled to the dust collector and configured to separate the dust and partially convey the dust from the dust collector to a storage container.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the dust collector includes a settling chamber.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the dust recovery unit includes a bag filter chamber that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a conduit.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the dust recovery unit includes a cyclone separator that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

51. The method of any one of claims 47 to 50, wherein the solid conveying device includes a conveyor.

52. The method of any one of claims 47 to 51, wherein the dust collector surrounds the solid conveying device along most of its length.

53. A construction and demolition (C&D) debris handling system comprising: a kinetic energy crusher configured to receive and process a C&D debris stream to generate a crushed debris stream; a crusher conveyor configured to convey the crushed debris stream downstream; and at least one separator operatively coupled to the crusher conveyor and configured to receive the crushed debris stream and generate a reduced-size debris stream and an oversized debris stream.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the separator includes a screen.

55. The system of claim 53 or 54 further comprises: a material recycling facility (MRF) that generates the C&D fines stream; and a fines conveyor configured to convey the C&D fines stream to the kinetic energy crusher.

56. A system as described in any of claims 53 to 55, wherein the C&D material flow system originates from construction and demolition debris.

57. A system as described in any of claims 53 to 56, wherein the C&D fine stream contains material with dimensions less than 2 inches or 4 inches.

58. A system as claimed in any of claims 53 to 57, wherein the kinetic energy crusher is configured to operate at a rotational speed between 500 RPM and 1,200 RPM.

59. The system of any one of claims 53 to 58, wherein the kinetic energy crusher is configured to operate at a rotational speed between 700 RPM and 1,000 RPM.

60. The system of any one of claims 53 to 59, further comprising an addition unit for incorporating a fragile additive into the C&D fine stream such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form part of the reduced-size portion.

61. The system of claim 60, wherein the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

62. The system of claim 60 or 61, wherein the adding unit for adding the fragile additive is located upstream of the kinetic energy crusher.

63. The system of claim 60 or 61, wherein the adding unit for adding the fragile additive is operatively coupled to the kinetic energy crusher.

64. The system of any one of claims 53 to 63, wherein the separator comprises at least one of a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen and a high-frequency screen.

65. The system of any one of claims 53 to 63, wherein the separator comprises a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

66. The system of any one of claims 53 to 65, further comprising: a monitoring unit configured to monitor at least one feed parameter of the C&D fine feed stream and / or at least one output parameter of the pulverized feed stream, the oversized feed stream and / or the size-reduced feed stream; and a control unit coupled to the monitoring unit and configured to adjust the kinetic energy pulverizer based on the at least one feed parameter and / or the at least one output parameter.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the monitoring unit and the control unit are configured such that the at least one feed parameter includes a feed rate of the C&D fine stream and / or a component of the C&D fine stream.

68. The system of claim 66 or 67, wherein the monitoring unit and the control unit are configured such that the at least one output parameter includes the dimensional properties of the pulverized material stream, a composition of the pulverized material stream, a flow rate of the pulverized material stream, a flow rate of the oversized material stream, a flow rate of the size-reduced material stream, a composition of the oversized material stream, and / or a composition of the size-reduced material stream.

69. A system as claimed in any of claims 66 to 68, wherein the control unit is configured to adjust the rotational speed of the kinetic energy crusher.

70. A system as claimed in any of claims 66 to 69, wherein the control unit is configured to adjust one of the feed rates of the C&D fine material flow into the kinetic energy crusher.

71. The system of any one of claims 53 to 70, further comprising an upstream magnetic separator to remove metal from the C&D fine stream and generate a lean metal feed stream fed into the kinetic energy crusher.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein the upstream magnetic separator operates relative to one of the feeds of the C&D fine stream.

73. The system of any one of claims 53 to 72 further includes a downstream magnetic separator to remove metal from at least one of: the crushed output stream, the oversized stream, and the reduced-size stream.

74. The system of claim 73, wherein the downstream magnetic separator operates relative to a feed of at least one of: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the reduced-size stream.

75. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one separator is the downstream magnetic separator.

76. The system of any one of claims 53 to 75 further includes a dust collection unit configured to recover a portion of dust from the pulverized material stream and generate a dust-reduced pulverized material stream fed to the screen.

77. The system of claim 76, wherein the dust collection unit is configured to supply at least a portion of the dust portion in combination with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

78. The system of claim 76 or 77, wherein the dust collection unit comprises: a dust collector coupled to an outlet of the kinetic crusher or to a crusher conveyor; and a dust recovery unit coupled to the dust collector and configured to separate the dust and partially transport the dust from the dust collector to a storage container.

79. The system of claim 78, wherein the dust collector includes a settling chamber.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein the dust collection unit includes a bag filter chamber that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a conduit.

81. The system of claim 79, wherein the dust recovery unit includes a cyclone separator that is in fluid communication with the settling chamber via a pipe.

82. A system as claimed in any of claims 78 to 81, wherein the dust collector surrounds the kinetic energy crusher along most of its length.

83. The system of any one of claims 53 to 82, wherein the separator comprises at least one of a nonferrous magnetic separator, a ferrous magnetic separator, and an expandable dust collector.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein the ductile dust collector is configured to remove at least a portion of the ductile material from the pulverized material stream and / or the excessive material stream.

85. The system of claim 83, wherein at least one of the non-ferrous magnetic separator and the ferrous magnetic separator is configured to remove at least a portion of the brittle material from the crushed material stream, the size-reduced material stream, and / or the oversized material stream.

86. A method for processing construction and / or demolition debris, comprising: providing a raw material comprising a brittle material and a ductile material; subjecting the raw material to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the raw material is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle material and an excessive portion originating from the ductile material; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size stream and an excessive-size stream.

87. The method of claim 86, further comprising subjecting a C&D raw material to an upstream separation stage to produce at least one stream of the raw material.

88. The method of claim 87, wherein the upstream separation stage includes mechanical screening to presize the C&D raw material to produce the at least one stream of the raw material.

89. The method of claim 87 or 88, wherein the upstream separation stage comprises upstream magnetic separation to remove metal from the C&D raw material or the at least one stream of the raw material and generate a lean metal feed stream fed to the kinetic crushing stage.

90. The method of claim 89, wherein the magnetic separation is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators relative to a feed of the C&D raw material or the at least one flow of the raw material.

91. The method of claim 89 or 90, wherein the upstream magnetic separation is performed by at least one of: a non-ferrous metal separator and a ferrous metal separator.

92. The method of any one of claims 87 to 91, wherein the upstream separation stage includes the manual removal of reusable material from the C&D raw material.

93. The method of any one of claims 87 to 92, wherein the upstream separation stage comprises an upstream dust collection stage to remove at least a portion of the ductile material from the at least one stream of the raw material or the C&D raw material.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein the upstream dust collection stage is performed by configuring one or more dust collectors relative to at least one flow of the raw material or a feed of the C&D raw material.

95. The method of any one of claims 86 to 94, further comprising subjecting the raw material to a pretreatment stage prior to subjecting the raw material to the kinetic energy crushing stage.

96. The method of claim 95, wherein the pretreatment stage is included in a drying stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

97. The method of claim 95 or 96, wherein the pretreatment stage includes a surface wetting stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

98. The method of any one of claims 95 to 97, wherein the pretreatment stage is included in a crushing or grinding stage upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

99. The method of claim 98, wherein the crushing or grinding stage comprises subjecting the raw material to a crusher or a high-speed mill.

100. The method of any one of claims 86 to 99, further comprising subjecting at least one of the following to a downstream magnetic separation to remove metal therefrom: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

101. The method of claim 100, wherein the downstream magnetic separation is performed by configuring one or more magnetic separators with respect to a feed of at least one of the following: the pulverized output stream, the oversized stream, and the size-reduced stream.

102. The method of claim 100 or 101, wherein the downstream magnetic separation is performed by at least one of: a downstream non-ferrous metal separator and a downstream ferrous metal separator.

103. The method of any one of claims 86 to 102, wherein the raw material is fed directly to the kinetic crushing stage at a construction site or demolition site where the building and / or demolition debris is generated.

104. The method of any one of claims 86 to 103, further comprising incorporating a fragile additive into the raw material such that the fragile additive is reduced in size and homogenized with the fragile material to form a portion of the reduced size portion.

105. The method of claim 104, wherein the fragile additive comprises at least one of the following: a pore-forming agent, a soil additive, a building material additive, a compost additive, peat moss, a glass product additive, and a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

106. The method of claim 104 or 105, wherein the fragile additive is introduced into the raw material upstream of the kinetic crushing stage.

107. The method of claim 104 or 105, wherein the fragile additive is introduced directly into the kinetic energy crusher as a separate stream from the raw material.

108. The method of any of requests 86 to 107, wherein the separation phase includes filtering.

109. The method of claim 108, wherein the screening comprises using a single screen or two or more screens configured in parallel or series.

110. The method of claim 108 or 109, wherein the screening is performed using at least one of the following: a drum screen, a vibrating screen, a rotary drum screen, a rotary screen, and a high-frequency screen.

111. The method of any one of claims 86 to 110, further comprising: monitoring at least one of the following parameters: the raw material, the pulverized material, the excessive flow rate and / or the size-reduced flow rate; and adjusting the kinetic energy pulverization stage based on the at least one parameter.

112. The method of claim 111, wherein the at least one parameter comprises at least one of the following: a feed rate of the raw material, a moisture content of the raw material, a dimensional property of the raw material, a composition of the raw material, a dimensional property of the reduced-size portion of the pulverized material, a composition of the pulverized material, a flow rate of the excessive flow, a flow rate of the reduced-size flow, a composition of the excessive flow, and a composition of the reduced-size flow.

113. The method of claim 111 or 112, wherein the adjustment of the kinetic energy crushing stage includes adjusting the rotational speed.

114. The method of any one of claims 111 to 113, wherein the adjustment of the kinetic crushing stage includes adjusting the feed rate of the raw material.

115. The method of any of claims 86 to 114, further comprising subjecting the excessive flow to a primary separation stage to produce an extended flow.

116. The method of request item 115, wherein the secondary separation stage includes filtering.

117. The method of claim 115 or 116, wherein the secondary separation stage includes magnetic separation.

118. The method of any one of claims 86 to 117, further comprising subjecting the pulverized material to a downstream dust collection stage to recover a portion of dust therefrom and generating a pulverized material stream with reduced dust that passes through the separation stage to generate the size-reduced stream and the excessively large stream.

119. The method of claim 118, wherein at least a portion of the dust portion is combined with at least a portion of the size-reduced material flow.

120. The method of claim 118, wherein all of the dust portions are combined with the size-reduced material flow.

121. The method of claim 118, wherein the downstream dust collection stage facilitates the separation of at least a portion of the ductile material in the process.

122. The method of claim 118, wherein the downstream dust collection stage facilitates the separation of at least a portion of the fragile material from the reduced-size portion.

123. The method of any one of claims 86 to 112, wherein the raw material comprises a source separation material having a brittle component comprising the brittle material coupled to a ductile component comprising the ductile material.

124. The method of claim 123, wherein the source separation material comprises gypsum drywall.

125. The method of claim 124, wherein the gypsum dry wall further comprises an embedded, non-fragile component of the ductile component and / or the brittle component.

126. The method of claim 124 or 125, wherein the reduced size portion comprises a crushed gypsum product.

127. The method of claim 126, wherein the pulverized gypsum product is configured for use as an agricultural amendment, a soil conditioner, a cement mixture additive, or in the production of drywall panels.

128. The method of any of claims 124 to 127, wherein the majority of the process comprises a plurality of paper- or cellulose-based substrates.

129. The method of claim 128, wherein the plurality of paper- or cellulose-based substrates are configured for use as animal bedding, coverings, cement kiln fuel, or in the production of paper products.

130. The method of claim 123, wherein the source separation material comprises asphalt shingles.

131. The method of claim 130, wherein the asphalt shingles further comprises an embedded, non-fragile component of the ductile component and / or the brittle component.

132. The method of claim 130 or 131, wherein the reduced size portion comprises an asphalt product.

133. The method of claim 132, wherein the bitumen product is configured for use as an additive in a cementitious mixture, in the production of biofuels, as a hydrocarbon additive, in the production of bitumen, or in the production of roof tiles.

134. The method of any of claims 130 to 133, wherein the majority of the process comprises a plurality of paper- or fiberglass-based substrates.

135. The method of claim 134, wherein the plurality of paper- or glass fiber-based substrates are configured for use as animal bedding, coverings, or in the production of paper products.

136. A method for processing asphalt shingles, comprising: providing the asphalt shingles comprising a brittle bitumen component coupled to a ductile component; subjecting the asphalt shingles to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the asphalt shingles are fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a size-reduced portion originating from the brittle bitumen component and an excess portion originating from the ductile component; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a size-reduced stream comprising bitumen and an excess stream comprising paper or glass fiber.

137. The method of claim 136, wherein the stretchable component comprises paper or glass fiber.

138. The method of claim 136 or 137, wherein the asphalt shingles further comprise a non-fragile material embedded in the brittle bitumen component and / or the ductile component.

139. A method for processing gypsum drywall, comprising: providing the gypsum drywall comprising a brittle gypsum component coupled to a ductile component; subjecting the asphalt shingles to a kinetic energy crushing stage, wherein the gypsum drywall is fed into a kinetic energy crusher and subjected to self-collision generated by vortices within the kinetic energy crusher to produce a crushed material comprising a reduced portion originating from the brittle gypsum component and an excessive portion originating from the ductile component; discharging the crushed material from the kinetic energy crusher; and subjecting the crushed material to a separation stage to produce a reduced-size stream comprising gypsum and an excessive-size stream comprising paper.

140. The method of claim 139, wherein the stretchable component comprises paper.

141. The method of claim 139 or 140, wherein the dry plaster wall further comprises one of the non-fragile materials embedded in the brittle plaster component and / or the ductile component.

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